Affiliations: Primary Health Care Clinic, Nuuk, Greenland | Heart Center, Medical Dept. B, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark | Dept. of Clinical Pharmacology Q, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark | Dept. of Environmental Health, Fukui Medical University, Japan | Danish Institute of Clinical Epidemiology, Copenhagen, Denmark | Center of Arctic Environmental Medicine, Dept. of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Note: [] Correspondence to: Henning Sloth Pedersen, MD, Primary Health Care Clinic, P.O. Box 1001, DK‐3900 Nuuk, Greenland. Fax: +299 321 104; E‐mail: hsp@ greennet.gl.
Abstract: Greenlanders (Eskimos) have low prevalence of ischaemic heart disease, partly explained by a lower extent of atherosclerosis and a low n‐6/n‐3 ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids. As atherosclerosis is also a result of oxidative stress, the total antioxidative readiness could have a substantial impact. From a health survey we chose the subpopulation from the most remote area, where the traditional Greenlandic diet with high intake of sea mammals and fish predominates. The mean (SD) of S‐CoQ_{10} in males was 1.495 (0.529) nmol/ml and 1.421 (0.629) nmol/ml in females, significantly higher (p<{}0.001) compared to a Danish population. In a linear multiple regression model the S‐CoQ_{10} level is significantly positively associated with age and S‐selenium in males, and S‐total cholesterol in females. The high level of CoQ_{10} in Greenlanders probably reflects diet, since no bioaccumulation takes place, and it could probably be a substantial part of the antioxidative defense.
Journal: Biofactors, vol. 9, no. 2-4, pp. 319-323, 1999
