Movers and Shakers
Former US Surgeon General Carmona Named Chairman of Shape Up America!
Adding his stature to the antiobesity crusade founded by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Richard H. Carmona, MD, the 17th Surgeon General and now vice chairman of the Tucson-based Canyon Ranch, has been appointed as the new chairman of Shape Up America!, the national campaign whose sole focus is raising awareness about obesity as a public health issue. In this capacity, Dr Carmona will continue the mission of this privately funded effort to place healthy weight, an improved diet, and increased physical activity high on the national agenda. Dr Koop will remain on the Shape Up America! board as chairman emeritus and will continue to speak out about the need to reduce the health risks associated with unhealthy weight.
Kathleen Reidy Promoted to Vice President at Gerber
Kathleen Reidy has been promoted to Vice President, Global Nutrition and Regulatory Affairs. Kathleen's accomplishments include the development and launch of Gerber's Start Healthy, Stay Healthy strategy, the Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study, and the Start Healthy Feeding Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers. Kathleen also serves as media spokesperson for Gerber on the topic of infant and toddler nutrition. Congratulations, Kathleen!
Council for Responsible Nutrition Announces New Chair and Board Officers
Marjorie Fine, executive vice president and general counsel, Shaklee Corporation, has been elected chair of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a dietary supplement industry trade association. Ms Fine, who will hold the office effective January 1 through December 2008, succeeds Chuck Brice, senior vice president, global account executive, Kemin Health, LC. Mr Brice will continue to serve on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee as immediate past chair.
Working with Ms Fine on CRN's Board of Directors will be 25 member company representatives plus CRN President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Mister. The Board includes the following newly elected officers:
* chair-elect: Mark LeDoux, Natural Alternatives International, Inc
* treasurer: David Christensen, Bayer Corporation
* secretary: Joe LaPlaca, DSM Nutritional Products, Inc
* immediate past chair: Chuck Brice, Kemin Health, LC
Shelia Bingham Heads New Cancer Center in Cambridge
The Medical Research Council has awarded [pounds]2.3 million to fund the development of a new Cambridge Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology in Cancer Prevention and Survival, which will be hosted by the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. The center, which starts work early in 2006, will provide an international lead in research in the epidemiology and molecular origins of the dietary causes of cancer. It will build on findings from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer and provide sound scientific evidence to underpin intervention studies, public health advice, and clinical guidance on treatment. This will contribute to the prediction, prevention, and improvement of health of those with this common and often fatal disease. Cancer is still the most common cause of death in most Western countries, including the UK. Congratulations, Shelia!
$10,000 Champions for Healthy Kids Grants Now Available
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) Foundation is proud to announce that grant applications are now being accepted for the Champions for Healthy Kids Grants, a partnership of the General Mills Foundation, the ADA Foundation, and the President's Challenge. Fifty grants of $10,000 each will be made to schools, community groups, and other nonprofit organizations with innovative programs aimed at improving the nutrition and activity habits of young people. The involvement of a registered dietitian or dietetics technician is a requirement for each program. The 2007 Champions for Healthy Kids grant application is available online at http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/commitment/champions.aspx. The application deadline is February 1, 2007; grants will be awarded in May 2007.
Nutrition Symposium Update
The third annual International Nutrition Symposium Brain, Appetite, and Obesity was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in October, sponsored by the Nestle Foundation. Starting with a session chaired by Dr Irwin Rosenberg of Tufts University on the sensory inputs to stimulating the brain, such as taste and smell, attention then turned to oral and visceral mechanisms. The focus then turned to central processing, including the energy required for general signaling within the brain and the various microcircuits involved. The next session on nutrition and behavior was chaired by Dr Bruce Bistrian of Harvard Medical School and focused on the metabolism of the brain. Among the speakers were Dr Anthony Sclafani of Brooklyn College, Markus Heinrichs of the Pennington Research Center and Louisiana State University, and Suzanne Craft of University of Washington. The final session, chaired by Dr Bruno Vellas of the University of Toulouse, focused on degenerative diseases associated with aging, such as Alzheimer disease and diabetes. Among the attendees from the United States were Johanna Dwyer of Tufts University, Dennis Bier of Baylor and the US Department of Agriculture Childrens' Nutriton Center, George Blackburn of Harvard Medical School, Jenny Brand-Miller of the University of Sydney in Australia, Dr Stephen Collins of McMaster University, Dr Suzanne Craft of the University of Washington, Dr Bruce German of University of California Davis, John Fernstrom of the University of Pittsburgh, Michael Gibney of the University College Dublin, Martin Katan of the Free University in the Netherlands, Jose Ordovas of Tufts University, and Robert Russell of Tufts University.
Join the International Society of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics!
The emerging field of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics is rapidly gaining importance, and a new international society has been established to meet the needs of the investigators for a high-quality platform for their research: International Society of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics (ISNN). Membership in the ISNN is open to researchers, educators, and clinicians who have a continuing scientific interest in nutrition and/or genetics/molecular biology/pharmacology. Regular members pay full annual dues, may nominate and vote in Society elections, may hold elected and appointed offices, may serve on committees, receive discounted registration for Society Congresses, and receive a complimentary subscription to the Journal of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics: Official Journal of the ISNN, edited by Louis Perusse, PhD (Canada). For more information, log on to http://www.karger.com/jnn.
In Memoriam
John Iacono, PhD
John "Jack" Iacono, PhD, was a former director of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging in California, which is now located at Davis and which was formerly located at the Presidio in San Francisco. Dr Iacono was a long-time civil servant who served in many different capacities in the Agricultural Research Service, USDA.
David Kritchevsky, PhD
Nutrition Today mourns the loss of David Kritchevsky, a biochemist and expert in human nutrition who made groundbreaking studies on cholesterol and dietary fats and who pushed for balanced approaches to assessing health risks from foods. Dr Kritchevsky was interested in the benefits of eating dietary fiber, the effects of saturated and unsaturated fats, and the role of fats in promoting cancers and heart disease. In the late 1950s, he published an early and influential textbook, Cholesterol, which explored the workings of that fatty substance, which is found in cells and the bloodstream and considered a significant factor in coronary disease. David Kritchevsky was born in Kharkov, Ukraine. He attended the University of Chicago and earned his doctorate in organic chemistry from Northwestern University in 1948. From 1975 to 1991, he served as associate director of the Wistar Institute. He also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a professor of biochemistry in the School of Veterinary Medicine, and at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He was president of the American Society for Nutrition in 1979. Dr Kritchevsky is survived by his wife of 58 years, the former Evelyn Sholtes. He is survived as well by a son, 2 daughters, and 6 grandchildren.
Calendar
The Third National Farm to Cafeteria and Food Policy Conference
March 16-19, 2007
Baltimore, Md
For more information, log on to http://www.foodsecurity.org.
Food Defense Workshop
March 29, 2007
Dallas, Tex
For more information, contact David Arvelo at 214 253 4952.
World Immune Regulation Meeting
April 23-25
Washington, DC
For more information, log on to http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/events.html.
Books and Media Received
Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 2006. Rockville, Md: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; June 2006. AHRQ Publication No. 06-0588. Available at: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/pocketgd.htm.