Researchers´ Profiles - Harriet Kuhnlein

Harriet Kuhnlein is Professor of Human Nutrition and Founding Director, Centre for Indigenous Peoples Nutrition and Environment (CINE) at the Macdonald Campus of McGill University, Montréal, Canada

She received her BS (Dietetics/Institutional Management) from Pennsylvania State University in 1961; MS (Nutrition) from Oregon State University in 1969; and PhD (Nutritional Sciences), University of California, Berkeley, in 1976. She is also a Registered Dietitian.

She founded CINE in 1992 and served as its director until 1999. She was Director of the
School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University from 1985-1992. Prior to joining the McGill faculty she was Assistant and later Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Her research interests center in traditional food resources of Indigenous Peoples. This includes research in partnership with indigenous communities to identify food resources (both wild and cultivated) and to define how traditional food is prepared and/or preserved, and to determine factors influencing food use and patterns of consumption. Laboratory analyses of traditional food resources are a central part of the research program. Dietary records are used to quantitatively define the extent of use of these resources in parallel with food imported through market networks. Finally, nutritional health status of Indigenous Peoples are assessed and determinants of status are defined.

Her work also includes development of health promotion materials with native people for their use. Food composition studies in collaboration with CINE staff include nutrients and contaminants, particularly organochlorines and heavy metals.

Since the beginning of her doctoral research in 1974 she has worked in partnership with several communities of Indigenous Peoples. These include the Hopi (Arizona), Nitinaht (BC), Nuxalk (BC), Kekchi and Cakchikel (Guatemala), Inuit (NWT, Nunavut and Labrador), Dene/Métis (NWT), Cree (QC), Mohawk (Kahnawake, QC), Shuswap (BC), Yukon First Nations, Anishnabe (Minnesota and Wisconsin), Makah (Washington), and several communities in developing countries (China, India, Peru, Niger, Philippines).

Other Activities:

• Development programs related to nutrition in developing countries
• Administration of nutrition and dietetics academic programs
• Editorial Boards of Journals: Ecology of Food and Nutrition, Journal of Ethnobiology, International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis
• Consultation with United Nations Programs in Nutrition
• Professional Advisory Board-Herb Research Foundation
• Sub-committee on Interpretation and Uses of DRI's, National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board

Publications:

Books

• Kuhnlein, H.V. and N.J. Turner (1991) Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples: Nutrition, Botany and Use, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers. 620 pp.
   
• Blum, L., P.J. Pelto, G.H. Pelto and H.V. Kuhnlein (1997) Community Assessment of Natural Food Sources of Vitamin A: Guidelines for an Ethnographic Protocol International Nutrition Foundations for Developing Countries, United Nations University. 139 pp.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V. and G.H. Pelto (1997) Culture, Environment and Food to Prevent Vitamin A Deficiency International Nutrition Foundation for Developing Countries, United Nations University. 205 pp.
   
• Nuxalk Food and Nutrition Program Staff (1984) Nuxalk Food and Nutrition Handbook: A Practical Guide to Family Food and Nutrition Using Native Food. Malibu Printing, Richmond, British Columbia, pp. 116.
  

Journal Articles

• Kuhnlein, H. V.and O. Receveur (1996) Dietary change and traditional food systems of Indigenous Peoples. Ann. Rev. Nutr. 16:417-42.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V., R. Soueida and O. Receveur (1996) Dietary nutrient profiles of Canadian Baffin Island Inuit differ by food source, season and age. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 96(2)155-162.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V., F. Yeboah, M. Sedgemore, S. Sedgemore and H.M. Chan (1996) Nutritional qualities of ooligan grease: a traditional food fat of British Columbai First Nations. J. Food Compos. Anal. 9:18-31.
   
• Belinsky, D., H.V. Kuhnlein, F. Yeboah and H.M. Chan (1996) Composition of fish consumed by the James Bay Cree. J. Food Compos. Anal. 9:148-162.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V. and S. Burgess (1997) Improved retinol, carotene, ferritin and folate status in Nuxalk teens and adults following a health promotion program. Food Nutr.Bull. 18(2):202-210.
   
• Receveur, O., M. Boulay and H.V. Kuhnlein (1997) Decreasing traditional food use affects diet quality for adult Dene/Metis in 16 communities of the Canadian Northwest Territories. J. Nutr 127(11)2179-2186.
   
• Berti, P.R., H.M. Chan, O. Receveur, C.R. Macdonald and H.V. Kuhnlein (1998) Population exposure to radioactivity from consumption of caribou among the Dene/Métis of Denendeh (Western Northwest Territories, Canada). J. Exposure and Anal. And Env. Epidemiology, 8(2):145-158.
   
• Berti, P.R., O. Receveur, H.M. Chan and H.V. Kuhnlein (1998) Dietary exposure to chemical contaminants from traditional food among adult Dene/Metis in the Western Northwest Territories, Canada. Environ. Res. Section A 76:131-142.
   
• Jacobs Starkey, L., H.V. Kuhnlein and K. Gray-Donald (1998) Food bank users: Socio- demographic and nutritional status characteristics. Can. Med. Assoc. J. 158(9):1143-1149.
   
• Trifonopoulos, M., H.V. Kuhnlein and O. Receveur (1998) Analysis of 24-hour recalls of 164 fourth- to sixth-grade Mohawk children in Kahnawake. J. Am. Diet Assoc. 98:814-816.
   
• Delormier, T., H.V. Kuhnlein (1999) Dietary characteristics of Eastern James Bay Cree women. Arctic, 52(2):182-188.
   
• Jacobs Starkey, L., K. Gray-Donald and H.V. Kuhnlein (1999) Nutrient intake of food bank users in relation to frequency of food bank use, household size, smoking, education and country of birth. J. Nutr. 129:883-890.
   
• Berti, P.R., S.E. Hamilton, O. Receveur and H.V. Kuhnlein (1999) Food use and nutrient adequacy in Baffin Inuit children and adolescents. Can. J. Diet. Prac. and Res., 60(2):63-70.
   
• DeGonzague, B., O. Receveur, D. Wedll and H.V. Kuhnlein (1999) Dietary intake and body mass index of adults in 2 Ojibwe communities. J. Am. Diet. Assoc., 99(6):710-716.
   
• Belinsky, D. and H.V. Kuhnlein (2000). Macronutrient, mineral, and fatty acid composition of Canada Goose (Branta canadensis): an important traditional food resource of the Eastern James Bay Cree of Quebec. J. Food Comp. Anal.13:101-115.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V. and H.M.Chan.(2000). Environment and contaminants in traditional food systems of Northern Indigenous Peoples. Ann. Rev. Nutr. 20:595-626.
   
• Jacobs Starkey, L. and H.V. Kuhnlein (2000). Montreal Food Bank Users' Intakes Compared with Recommendations of Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating. Can. J. Diet. Practice and Res. 61(2):73-75.
   
• Kuhnlein, Harriet V. Persistent Environmental Contaminants and Breastfeeding. United Nations System's Forum on Nutrition, Administrative committee on Coordination, Sub-Committee on Nutrition. SCN News-A periodic review of developments in international nutrition compiled from information available to the ACC/SCN. December, 2000, pages18-20.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V. (2000). Finding sources of vitamin A and provitamin in Food Nutr. Bull. 21(2):130-134.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V. (2000). The joys and pains of sampling and analysis of traditional food of Indigenous Peoples. J.Food Comp. Anal. 13:649-658.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V., O. Receveur, and A. Ing. (2001). Energy, fat and calcium in bannock consumed by Canadian Inuit. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 101 (5):580-582.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V., O. Receveur, and H.M. Chan (2001). Traditional food systems research with Canadian Indigenous Peoples. International J. of Circumpolar Health 60(2): 112-12
   
• Kuhnlein H.V. (2001). Documenting Traditional Food Systems of Indigenous Peoples. International Case Studies in Asia. Report of Workshop held in Salaya, Thailand, March, 2001. FAO/CINE/Mahidol University.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V. and G.H. Pelto (2002) Ethnographic aspects of human nutrition. In: The role of food of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in human nutrition. Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)UNESCO, Paris (12 pp).
   
• Fediuk, K., N. Hidiroglou, R. Madere, and H.V. Kuhnlein (2002). Vitamin C in Inuit traditional food and women's diets. J. Food Comp. and Anal. 15(3):221-235.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V., H.M. Chan, D. Leggee and V. Barthet (2002). Macronutrient, mineral and fatty acid composition of Canadian Arctic traditional food. J. Food Comp. and Anal. 15(5):545-566.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V., H.M. Chan, O. Receveur and G. Egeland (2002). Canadian Arctic Indigenous Peoples, traditional food systems and POPs In: Fenge, T. and Downey, D. (Eds). Northern Lights Against POPs: Combating Toxic Threats at the Top of the World. McGill-Queens's University Press. In press.
   
• Kuhnlein, H.V., Smitasiri, S., Yesudas, S., Ahmed, S, Kothari, G., Bhattacharjee, L, Dan, L., Fengying, Z. (2002). Documenting traditional food systems of indigenous peoples: Process and methods with international case studies. Proceedings: International Scentific Symposium on Measurement and Assessment of Food Deprivation and Under-Nutrition. FAO, Rome. In press.

email: harriet@kunhlein@mcgill.ca