The health and economic burden of desalination-related magnesium deficiency

The prolonged water crisis that Israel suffered from for decades has been curbed thanks to desalination plants, but a side effect of that solution has created an unexpected health problem- a magnesium deficiency. A new study by the Taub Center, conducted by researchers from the Taub Center Research and Policy Initiative for Environment and Health- Maya Sadeh, Prof. Itamar Grotto, Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, and Prof. Alex Weinreb - examined the health and economic impacts of magnesium deficiency, a mineral critical to human health. The study found that this deficiency increases the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and ischemic stroke. Before the desalination era, natural water provided 10%–20% of magnesium intake in Israel, but in desalinated water - now comprising the water supplied to about 70% of Israel’s households - there is no magnesium at all. The good news is that this extra burden of disease can be avoided: by adding magnesium back into desalinated water, it is possible to reduce illness rates and save the healthcare system hundreds of millions of shekels --