Land use is associated with Indigenous maternal death occurrence through Native and Western food security

Nearly every pregnancy-related American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) maternal death within the United States is preventable. Factors contributing to AI/AN pregnancy disparities are numerous, complex, and interacting, but diet and nutritional disparities have major roles. AI/AN populations face pregnancy and food security disparities concurrently. While traditional (Native) foods can augment general food security, systematic practices like land use can impose access barriers. We used public data to investigate relationships between a main land use purpose (agriculture), Native and Western food securities, and AI/AN pregnancy-related maternal death. We also investigated land use (agriculture) associations with the nutritional quality of a vital traditional food for AI/AN Peoples from Northern Pacific latitudes (coho Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch). We demonstrate that relationships exist between food security, land use, and AI/AN pregnancy. Relationships between land use and Native food security also indicate a need to consider the nutritional value of traditional foods consumed by pregnant AI/AN mothers.