Grants and Fellowships | 2014

33 Pilot Research Grants Endocrine Disrupting Chemical Burden among Residents of a Vegan-Organic Rural Community: The Amirim Study Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are suspected to be involved in diseases whose incidence has risen in the last decades such as obesity, diabetes, reproductive abnormalities, and endocrine-related cancers. Biomonitoring surveys of those EDCs in populations have pointed to geographical variations, possibly linked to lifestyle differences. The recent Israeli biomonitoring survey uncovered high levels of exposure of the Israeli population to BPA and phthalates when compared to the data available for the US and Canada. We hypothesized that, compared to the background omnivorous Israeli population, a lower burden of EDCs would be found among residents of the Amirim vegetarian/vegan village in the upper Galilee. The sample collection part of the study has now been completed and the mass spectrometry- based analytical part is underway. The results will be compared to those of the Israeli survey, and correlated to the anthropometric data and the numerous lifestyle and nutritional parameters we obtained. If the results confirm our hypothesis, this study will lay the ground for a long term life style intervention study. Karen Tordjman 1 Tamar Berman 2 Thomas Göen 3 1. Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center 2. Israel Ministry of Health 3. Erlangen-Nuremberg University, Germany 2013- Evaluation of Adverse Health Effects in the Israeli Population from Lack of Magnesium and Iodine in Drinking Water from Desalinized Sea Water Extensive seawater desalination in Israel may decrease magnesium in drinking water (DW), causing hypomagnesemia and adverse health effects. We will study the association between consumption of desalinated drinking water (DSW) and serum magnesium in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients, the incidence of diabetes, hypertension and colorectal cancer. The study's specific components include: (1) Data on 11,683 AMI patients from the Acute Coronary Syndrome Israeli Survey (ACSIS) multi-center study (2002-2013): serum magnesium and clinical outcomes, controlled for risk factors; (2) Trends in serum magnesium in Clalit Health Services patients in regions with or without DSW, incidence of CV diseases, diabetes, colorectal cancer and hypothyroidism; (3) Association between serummagnesium and clinical outcomes in patients with AMI with a 1 year follow-up in 300 patients in regions supplied with DSW (Sheba MC) and 150 patients in regions with non-desalinated DW (Nahariya MC). (5) Urinary iodine in 150 pregnant women residing in areas with or without DSW, and neonatal thyroid functions. Potential positive findings may bear important consequences for public health in Israel. Yona Amitai 1 Meital Shlezinger 1,2 Michael Shechter 2 Maya Leventer-Roberts 3 1. Bar-Ilan University 2. The Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer 3. Clalit Health Services 2014-