Grantee Research Project Results
2009 Progress Report: Impacts of Climate Change on Health Benefits of a Tribal Alaskan Resource:Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Risk Assessment Through Local Monitoring
EPA Grant Number: R833707Title: Impacts of Climate Change on Health Benefits of a Tribal Alaskan Resource:Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Risk Assessment Through Local Monitoring
Investigators: Lila, Mary Ann , Raskin, Ilya , Flint, Courtney
Current Investigators: Lila, Mary Ann , Raskin, Ilya , Flint, Courtney , Johnson, Jennifer
Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , Rutgers
Current Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , Office of Alaska Native Health Research and Epidemiology , Rutgers
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2011
Project Period Covered by this Report: May 21, 2009 through May 20,2010
Project Amount: $300,000
RFA: Issues in Tribal Environmental Research and Health Promotion: Novel Approaches for Assessing and Managing Cumulative Risks and Impacts of Global Climate Change (2007) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice , Tribal Environmental Health Research , Human Health , Climate Change
Objective:
To conduct a parallel, integrated simultaneous research approach to: 1) provide baseline assessment of the bioactivity (health risk mitigation properties) of berry resources as influenced by climatic stress factors relevant to global climate change, via cross-comparison of three geographically triangulated tribal communities characterized by inherently different climatic regimes; and 2) assess local traditional knowledge and risk perceptions regarding community health, berries, and climate change, and integrate with biophysical findings for informed local health-related decision-making.Progress Summary:
Participatory research with community members in three Alaska communities (Akutan, Point Hope, and Seldovia) focused on the bioactive health properties of wild berries and their role in local knowledge and community practice.
Youth and adult community members from each site helped our graduate student and faculty project investigators screen local berries for bioactive potential, using field deployable bioassay screens. Promising candidates were selected for further laboratory study. We conducted interviews and surveys with local residents about berries and broader community and environmental conditions. The wild Alaska berries studied were found to contain unique components and combinations of phytochemicals, which are particularly effective at combating the ravages of metabolic syndrome (type II diabetes and obesity). Additionally, the components were potent antimicrobials. The berries studied were found to all contain A-type proanthocyanidins as part of their phytochemical cocktail. This proanthocyanidin (tannin) configuration is relatively rare, found only in cranberries and blueberries among the commercially available berries. The significance of this unique component in the berries is that the A-type proanthocyanidin has anti-adhesion properties - that is, the berries, when eaten, will effectively disable the bacteria that cause urinary tract infection as well as the bacteria responsible for dental caries; they are excellent natural therapies for these microbial diseases. The proanthocyanidin content in the berries also was highly effective at lowering lipid deposition into adipose tissue. In other words, berry components effectively prevent fat cell enlargement with implications for prevention of metabolic syndrome. The unique compliment of anthocyanins (pigments) in the berries proved to be particularly efficacious in reducing blood glucose levels in vivo, in a diabetic mouse model. That is, the consumption of the berries may prove to be an important deterrent to development of type II diabetes in adults.
The discovery of these properties and the unique components that contribute to them all support the traditional use of the berries in local diets as a source not only of food, but also of medicines. Berries were found to play a key role in community wellness beyond nutrition due to social and outdoor activities associated with harvesting. However, these benefits are potentially threatened by uncertain impacts from contamination, climate change, and socio-cultural and behavioral changes shifting focus away from locally available foods. Research findings are informing community wellness planning by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and have served as important learning opportunities for community members, particularly youth. Beyond Alaska, this transdisciplinary research informs diverse academic audiences regarding methodologies for integrated, participatory, socio-biological investigation in addition to expanding disciplinary lines of inquiry on bioactivity in wild plants, traditional ecological knowledge, and community natural resource sociology.
Work Status. Participatory research with community members in three Alaska communities (Akutan, Point Hope, and Seldovia) focused on the bioactive health properties of wild berries and their role in local knowledge and community practice. Work has progressed according to schedule in this Methods Development Project, and we have accomplished nearly all of our originally planned benchmarks. In total, we have had 10 site visits as follows: Akutan (3) [one visit in 2007, two in 2008]; Point Hope (4) [one site visit in each of the years 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010], and Seldovia (3) [one site visit in each of the years 2007, 2008, and 2009]. Data from the project is reported in four manuscripts (two in print, one in review, one in preparation), seven abstracts for national and international conferences, and three internal (departmental and college) seminars. One additional (final) visit to Alaska on this grant will occur this month. We will meet with Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) officials, including our primary liaison Dr. Gary Ferguson, to summarize outcomes and to consider new opportunities for working together in the future on an expanded experimental agenda, in light of the insights and needs we have realized during our initial years’ collaborations. During the fall semester in 2010, comprehensive write-ups of project outcomes will be completed.
Results. Screening of community berry resources demonstrated potent efficacy against type II diabetes and obesity, as well as significant antimicrobial activity. All berries contained the critical A-Type proanthocyanidins (phytochemicals) essential to this bioactive response, and usually deposited in response to environmental stressors. Berry harvest and consumption were valued by communities both in terms of subsistence and nutrition, as well as a vehicle for social interaction and enjoyment of nature/the outdoors and family interaction. Local communities noted strong apprehension about potential infringement on these valued resources by contamination, and possible climatic shifts.
Future Activities:
During the fall and spring semesters, follow-up opportunities to interface with our established partners in one of the key participation sites (Point Hope) will be developed and researched, as well as with our established partners in ANTHC. Our partners have suggested expansion to a new project theme that will thoroughly explore effects of climate change and contaminants not just on the berry resources (the original project) but on a range of biomedicinally important native flora (herbal and food), and native salmon, incorporating the participation of another faculty member at the University of Illinois (Dr. Cory Suski). In the latter realm, the fish health may be assessed through biometric parameters to determine food availability and population densities, and assemble databases that relate climate indices and fish abundances and the nutrient/extranutritional properties of the fish as a foodstuff (omega 3 acids, lipids, vitamin B3, vitamin B12, magnesium, protein, etc.) will be assayed in this approach. In addition, project write-ups (for planned new project) and manuscript data crunching and preparation (for the current EPA STAR initiative) will be a focus of the coming semesters.
A key impact of the project is the incorporation of some of the project’s participatory approaches and methods in current community health outreach work with ANTHC. Opportunities for future interaction are being explored as well as delivery to local audience forums.
Journal Articles on this Report : 4 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 17 publications | 5 publications in selected types | All 5 journal articles |
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Flint CG, Robinson ES, Kellogg J, Ferguson G, Boufajreldin L, Dolan M, Raskin I, Lila MA. Promoting wellness in Alaskan villages: integrating traditional knowledge and science of wild berries. EcoHealth 2011;8(2):199-209. |
R833707 (2009) |
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Kellogg J, Higgs C, Lila MA. Prospects for commercialisation of an Alaska Native wild resource as a commodity crop. Journal of Entrepreneurship 2011;20(1):77-101. |
R833707 (2009) R833707 (2010) |
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Kellogg J, Wang J, Flint C, Ribnicky D, Kuhn P, Gonzalez De Mejia E, Raskin I, Lila MA. Alaskan wild berry resources and human health under the cloud of climate change. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2010;58(7):3884-3900. |
R833707 (2009) R833707 (2010) |
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Kellogg J, Joseph G, Andrae-Marobela K, Sosome A, Flint C, Komarnytsky S, Fear G, Struwe L, Raskin I, Lila MA. Screens-to-nature: opening doors to traditional knowledge and hands-on science education. NACTA Journal 2010;54(3):43-50. |
R833707 (2009) R833707 (2010) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
bioactivity, phytochemicals, climate change, community participatory, traditional ecological knowledge, Native Alaskan, tribal researchProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.