This project is funded by the NIH National Institutes of Aging, R03
PI: Kriya Dunlap, PhD
Key Personnel: Scott Jerome, PhD
Dr. Kriya Dunlap is an associate professor of biochemistry for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UAF. She is a former TRiM pilot investigator who used the preliminary data collected under her TRiM pilot project for her current NIA grant.
Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide health epidemic and a public health concern with over 1 billion people worldwide showing vitamin D deficiency. People living at higher latitudes are a higher risk. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to cognitive impairments and type 2 diabetes in addition to many cancers, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, inflammation, and impaired immune function. Indigenous peoples of the circumpolar north rely on traditional foods, especially wild salmon, to meet their vitamin D demands. Shifts towards Westernized diets and customs have resulted in an increased prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and associated health issues. Alaskan sled dogs are exposed to the same environment as their owners and also rely on salmon to meet their energy demands. Sled dogs provide a unique human health model for people living in the far north. Additionally, vitamin D deficiency has been reported in sled dogs. This study will evaluate the effects of vitamin D status and intake from salmon on biomarkers of aging, including cognitive decline, and metabolic syndrome.
Our long-term goal is to develop a sled dog intervention study model for human health in the circumpolar north. Our overall objectives are to (i) correlate chronological age and vitamin D status with brain aging, and (ii) determine the effects of salmon on vitamin D status and markers of metabolic syndrome. Our central hypothesis is that vitamin D will be associated with improved metabolic and brain health. Our rationale for using sled dogs is that they not only have evolved alongside their human counterparts as part of the Alaska subsistence lifestyle, but their fur, like winter parkas, prevents vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Many rural sled dogs eat almost exclusively salmon for a large part of the year. This diet, combined with a shorter lifespan than humans, increased metabolic rate, and large homogenous sample sizes, make sled dogs a unique model for intervention studies to elucidate the effects of diet and aging in the circumpolar north.
