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Fecal steroids of the coprolite of a Greenland Eskimo mummy, AD 1475: a clue to dietary sterol intake^1,2,3

¹ From the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland.

Background: Sterols in feces reflect sterols in the diet. In previous analyses of the fecal steroids in 1000–2000-y-old Native American coprolites found in the dry caves of Nevada, we showed that the sterol nucleus was stable. The coprolites provided useful dietary information.

Objective: In the present study, we analyzed the fecal steroids of an Eskimo mummy buried and frozen >500 y ago in Greenland. We compared these analyses with our findings in the coprolites from Nevada and in present-day stool samples from Tarahumara Indians of Mexico and Americans consuming low- and high-cholesterol diets.

Design: The fecal material from the Eskimo mummy was subjected to saponification, extraction, and digitonin precipitation. The sterols and bile acids were further analyzed by thin-layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography.

Results: The fecal steroids of the Greenland Eskimo mummy were remarkably similar to those of present-day stool samples. However, unlike in the stool of modern humans, a portion of the neutral steroids in the coprolite had been converted to sterol epimers. Instead of deoxycholic acid, 3,6ß,12-trihydroxycholanic acid was one of the major fecal bile acids. The plant sterol output in the coprolite was only 0.4% of the output of Americans consuming 250–400 mg plant sterols/d. The ratio of bile acid to cholesterol in the coprolite was similar to that in stool from Tarahumara Indians consuming a low-cholesterol diet.

Conclusion: The sterol nucleus is stable when frozen. The analysis of coprolite showed that the young Eskimo woman had consumed a diet very low in plant sterols and moderate to low in cholesterol content.

Key Words: Cholesterol • plant sterols • fecal bile acids • fecal coprostanol • coprostanol epimers • Eskimo • Greenland • mummy • coprolite

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