Some Dietary Factors Among Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews: An Ecological Study based on the Literature

Abstract

In Israel, the multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence was nearly two - fold in European / American immigrants (mostly Ashkenazim Jews) (53.7 per 100,000) in comparison to African / Asian immigrants (mostly Sephardim Jews) (27.9 per 100,000) in 2000. In the present study, a comparison of both populations with respect to the preservation methods of meat was made by an evaluation of totally 48 cookery books used as literary sources. It was shown that smoking of meat was much more common in Ashkenazi than Sephardic cookery (Yates’ corrected four - fold table test: chi² = 28.49; p < 0.0001). In contrast, the percentage of vegetables (e.g. onions; parsley; garlic) did not differ between both groups. The findings hold for recommendations that might be given to all MS patients, although they are founded on experimental data so far.