Attitudes toward nutrition and health in the ancient North
Robertson, D.
Southern Medical Journal 71(12): 1562-6 1568
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0038-4348 PMID: 364671 Document Number: 127199
Earliest reports, beginning with those of Tacitus, describe the Northmen of Scandinavia as tall and healthy. That was confirmed by study of skeletons from archaeological sites. There was little or no caries, rickets, pellagra or beriberi, owing to the diet of fish, cheese, porridge or barley and oats and wholemeal rye bread. The main deficiency disorder was scurvy because there were few vegetables which could be stored for use in winter. Leeks and onions, which are rich in ascorbic acid, were highly esteemed though there was no evidence that the mediaeval Scandinavians associated their lack with signs of scurvy. Migration to Iceland, where onions do not grow well, may have put the Norsemen at risk of scurvy. Onions were put into funeral ships and may have been carried on sea voyages. There was skyr, a nonperishable preparation of milk and rennet. Bread, meat, onions, beer and milk, though the milk may have been skyr, were reported to have been carried by Swedish Viking traders from Kiev up the Volga river in 921-922 AD.