We interviewed 1,900 healthy subjects who belonged to one of the three
following ethnic groups: (a) Ashkenazi Jews, (b) Sephardi and Orienta
l Jews, and (c) Arabs (including Druses)-about their bowel habits, lax
ative use, and beliefs about bowel action. Using stepwise logistic reg
ression, we found that the following variables were significantly and
independently related to bowel frequency: (a) sex-male > female (p = 0
.0001); (b) age-young > old (p = 0.0001); (c) physical activity-high >
little (p = 0.001); (d) body habitus-lean > obese (p = 0.02); (e) mar
ital status-married > single (0 = 0.009); and (f) ethnic group-Arab >
Jewish (p = 0.004). Regular use of laxatives was found in 18.4% of wom
en and 10.8% of men (p < 0.0001). This habit was more common among Ash
kenazi Jews (17%) than among Sephardi and Oriental Jews (10.7%) and Ar
abs (4.8%). Laxative intake was higher among the elderly (p = 0.0001)
and the obese (p = 0.0004). Concerning the ''ideal'' bowel frequency,
12.4% of the Ashkenazis, 22.7% of the Sephardis and Oriental Jews, and
26.1% of the Arabs preferred to have at least 9 movements per week. S
trikingly, 51.8% of all interviewed believed that constipation was ''h
armful to health;'' women were more concerned than men (56.3% versus 4
7.5%). Subjects with a high level of education were significantly more
concerned about constipation.