More on Fetal Programming of Adult Metabolic Disorders in Holocaust Survivors

Abstract

This important topic was previously reviewed in the pages of 'IMAJ' and elsewhere by Ophir, Ben-Shlomo, Hazani and Haimov-Kochman. The topic has also been recognized by international researchers. Subsequently, in April 2014, Bercovici wrote on the long-term effects of famine in adults born during the Holocaust. This work was a baseline study on Holocaust survivors in Israel. Although the authors described certain shortcomings in their work (statistical bias), the study has clinical value and offers important public health information. The length of exposure to hunger was different in the camps, in ghettos or in hiding, so the extent of starvation, accordingly, was also different. This "exposed" European group was compared with a "non-exposed" population living in Israel during the same period. One must remember, however, that even those in Israel were at times at least partially nutritionally deprived.