A while back I posted, or re-posted, a study that had appeared on
the lowcarb list indicating that ketosis increases free radical
formation in the body.  At that time I conjectured that this
might have the effect of increasing the rate of aging and noted
that I "remembered reading" about the premature aging of the
Inuit.  I could not, however, recall where I read it.  Well, I
just found the reference as I was cleaning out old files and
stuff.  I believe the following is an excerpt from a web site,
and I'm sorry I can't give more information, but the reference to
Hutton may be useful.

Todd Moody
[log in to unmask]


Studies of primitive Eskimos in the late 1800's
and early 1900's revealed no evident cancer and
heart disease among them. These robust and happy
people, living in their natural state existed
almost entirely on animal protein and fat, and so
impressed were some of the observers, they adopted
all-meat diets themselves.
What these people overlooked was that the Eskimos
vigorous health was enjoyed only by the young, and
that by middle age when their vital organs began
to break down, eht Eskimo aged rapidly, and
suffered severe osteoporosis.  At the same time,
the Eskimos had a very low resistance to
infectious diseases whenever exposed to them. Dr
Samuel Hutton,one of the observers (1902-1913) in
his book 'Health Conditions and Disease Incidence
Among the Eskimos of Labrador', confirmed the fact
that cancer and other diseases of civilisation
were not evident among the Eskimos but had this to
say about their life expectancy:
"Old age sets in at fifty and it's signs are
strongly marked at sixty. In the years beyond
sixty, the Eskimo is aged and feeble.
Comparatively few live  beyond sixty and only a
very few reach seventy. Those who live to such an
age have spent a life of great activity, feeding
on Eskimo foods and engaging in characterisically
Eskimo pursuits...Careful records have been left
by the missionaries for more than a hundred years.
Perhaps the most striking of the peculiarities of
the Eskimo constitution is the tendency to
haemorrhage*. Young and old alike are subject to
nose bleeding and these sometimes continue for as
much as three days and reduce the patient to a
condition of collapse".