BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:: The content of C and N isotopes is higher in marine than in terrestrial food. C and N in human tissue therefore reflects the relative proportions of marine and terrestrial food consumed by the individual. The objective of this study was to measure C and N in liver tissue from Greenlandic Inuit and Danes. SUBJECTS/METHODS:: Normal liver tissue was obtained at autopsy in 1992–1994 from 60 Inuit with a median age of 61 years (range 25–83) and in 1986 from 15 ethnic Danes with a median age of 84 years (range 66–93). By sieving, liver tissue was separated in a ‘cellular fraction’ and a ‘connective tissue fraction’. C and N in dry liver tissue was measured on a mass spectrometer. δC indicates the C content relative to the IAEA-CH-6 reference standard. δN indicates N content relative to the atmospheric nitrogen reference standard. RESULTS:: Inuit: median δC was -21.2‰ in cellular and -20.0‰ in connective tissue fractions (P=0.001). Median δN was 10.6‰ in both cellular and connective tissue fractions. Body mass index was negatively correlated with δC in the connective tissue fraction (rs=-0.42, P=0.057). Danes: median δC was -27.0‰ in cellular and -24.3‰ in connective tissue fractions (P=0.11). Median δN was 9.5‰ in cellular and 8.9‰ in connective tissue fractions (P=0.5). Inuit had higher δC than Danes in both cellular and connective tissue fractions (P<0.001) as well as higher δN in the cellular fraction (P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS:: Inuit showed considerable variation in the ratio between marine and terrestrial food consumption, reflecting a vanishing hunter culture where elderly Inuit still adhere to the traditional hunters food with a high content of marine food, whereas the younger urbanized Inuit population consume food with a lower content of marine food and a higher content of terrestrial food. Danes consumed food of almost exclusively terrestrial origin. The present C and N analyses are in accordance with the dietary patterns obtained by dietary surveys.