A Horse, a Buggy, and a Very Decadent Milkshake

University of Maryland School of Medicine geneticist Toni Pollin, endocrinologist Alan Shuldiner, and their colleagues turned to the Old Order Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania--a group whose members marry each other and have little contact with the outside world. The genetic similarity among this group makes it easier to search for disease genes. The researchers were interested in how 800 of these Amish would respond to short exposures to environmental factors, such as a high-salt diet, linked to heart disease. The subjects were healthy adults, divided almost equally between men and women.