Active Low-Carber Forums - First-ever cases of obesity in Arctic peoples

The whole title of the article in the Siberian Times is:

First-ever cases of obesity in Arctic peoples as noodles replace traditional diet

Which is all we need to know, right?

Quote:

Subtle changes in traditional lifestyle of native ethnic groups in the Yamalo-Nenets region have brought the first-ever cases of obesity. Until now, fatness has not existed in these population groups, but scientists say there has been a marked change.
Alexey Titovsky, regional director for science and innovation, said: 'It never happened before that the small local indigenous peoples of the north suffered from obesity. It is a nonsensical modern problem. Now even a predisposition to obesity is being noticed.'
Changes have seen the intake of venison and river fish cut by half, he said. 'Over the past few years the diet has changed considerably, and people living in the tundra started eating so-called chemically processed products.'

What was amazing is the statement that this group never had obesity before. But I have no reason to doubt it. Seems like they would notice.

Quote:

Researcher Dr Andrey Lobanov says nomadic herders nowadays often buy instant noodles in villages on their pasture routes and this has led to 'dramatic changes to the rations of the people living in the tundra'.
'This food is easy to transport, easy to make,' he said, while also saying the nomadic groups - from the Nenets and Khanty ethnic groups - have added sugar, pastry, pasta, and bread to their diets.
'The problem is that carbohydrates do not contain the necessary micro elements, which help survival in Arctic conditions,' he said. 'The seasonal diet has also changed - the periods when they do not eat traditional food and replace it with carbohydrates has become longer.'

Ramen noodles. Staple of Satan, as we all know.

This fits right in with the increasing research pointing to the extreme vulnerability of indigenous peoples who ate a naturally low carb diet (especially common in colder regions of the globe, where agriculture is spotty at best) when they incorporate processed elements. These folks seem to have no genetic routes to burning off the extra carbs; they go right into visible obesity and metabolic syndrome.

For instance, the Inuit never got scurvy on their diet of raw meat, but this did not help the Europeans as long as they were still eating their tinned biscuits and other grain and sugar products that used to pack the polar exploration ships.

Only when they moved to a more native diet did they get more of the native benefits.