The origins of research on the oils from fish and marine mammals in preventive heart treatment are to be
found in Greenland. Two Danish doctors, Dyerberg and Bang, observed that heart diseases were very rare
among the Inuit of Greenland. They assumed that this was attributable to a high consumption of marine
polyunsaturates - particularly from oily fish. Later it has become apparent that the traditional diet of the
Greenlanders does not include a particularly large amount of fish, but on the other hand, it does include
large amounts of blubber and meat from marine mammals. This is what makes this diet unique, and because
of this, medical research in this field has been developed from only including fish oils, to also including
whale and seal oils.
Low occurrences of arthritis, psoriasis and asthma, but frequent occurrences of endocarditis have been recorded
among Greenlanders. This may have some connection with the effect of whale and seal oil on the immunity
system. The experiments carried out in Tromsø show that the consumption of whale and seal oils leads to a less
aggressive immunity system and has influence on the viscosity and coagulation of the blood.
Professor Østerud comes from a family that is very vulnerable to cardiovascular disease. His brother died recently
of a heart attack, and another brother has also suffered a heart attack. Østerud himself had the same indicators
in his blood showing that he has a strong predisposition to heart attacks. He used himself as his initial guinea
pig - and discovered that the consumption of whale oil dramatically reduced the level of indicator s that show
the danger of heart attacks in his blood.
An experiment comparing the effect of various, different oils was concluded last year. 134 people were divided
into groups consuming respectively the oils from the blubber of minke whales, seal blubber, a combination of
seal blubber and cod liver oil and no oil at all for a period of ten weeks. This experiment is now being followed
up by a study of the effects of the consumption of olive oil.