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17 Adar I 5760 - February 23, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family
New Study Reveals Israelis Consume Too Much Salt
by N. Katzin

The eating habits of Israelis are not as bad as we think. People aged 35 and up are eating more or less balanced diets. Their food consumption is relatively controlled, including more carbohydrates, vegetables and fruit and less fat. However, the consumption of sodium (salt) is hundreds of percents higher than recommended levels and the rate of weight gain in women is relatively high.

This information arises from an extensive nutritional study on the eating habits of Israelis. It was conducted by the International Center for Health and Nutrition of Ben Gurion University over a period of three years.

"Evaluating nutritional habits is not easy, since information based on reports of people being interviewed is not necessarily accurate. This explains why conflicting studies appear and why certain puzzling studies have noted that heavy people do not necessarily eat a lot," according to researcher Iris Shai, member of the staff of researchers who conducted the study.

Apparently, the heavier a person, the more unreliable are his reports. It could be that heavy people relegate the truth to subconscious levels and are simply ashamed of it. Woman tend to report lower food consumption than men, according to the study. The discrepancy between reports and reality is a worldwide phenomenon, prevalent mainly in the western world and particularly in Israel. In countries like Japan, where being heavy is considered respectable, the phenomenon doesn't exist.

The research team, headed by Professor Drora Preiser, is currently compiling a special information pool which includes 12,000 types of foods. The list was compiled in accordance with Israeli eating habits. (Israeli cheese, for example, has a lower percentage of fat than American cheese.) The purpose of the study is to determine the influence of nutrition on various diseases, such as heart disease or cancer in women, whose rates in Israel are among the highest in the world.

The rate of obesity of Israeli women is significantly higher than that of Israeli men. The study also indicates that the peak eating hours of the average Israeli are between 12-4 in the afternoon, when 31% of the daily intake of calories is consumed. Only 17% of the calories are consumed between 8 P.M. and 12 P.M. Eating at that time is considered one of the main causes of overweight. Eating before sleep, researchers explain, adversely affects the hormone which breaks up fats during sleep.

When will we stop being hungry? The study doesn't bear good tidings, and says that after the age 70 our appetites as well as our caloric intake decrease significantly for objective reasons. It is precisely at this age, however, that eating too little is unhealthy and often contributes to sickness, overall weakness and deteriorating health.

The study reveals disconcerting information regarding Israelis' sodium intake, which is 400% above recommended levels (not including salt added to food at the table). This trend is apparently the result of the change over to processed and preserved foods which include large quantities of sodium. The recommended amount of sodium is 2-4 grams a day, while the average Israeli consumes 12.8 grams without even realizing it. High salt consumption is considered one of the primary causes of high blood pressure, from which 50% of the population over the age of 65 suffers.

 

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