This issue of Topics in Clinical Nutrition (TICN) covers many facets of the world of nutrition today. Obesity, still a growing concern for dietitians at all levels of practice, is addressed in 2 articles produced in conjunction with presentations given at the Obesity Conference in October 2005, sponsored by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
From the conference, first Rebecca Reeves provides an interesting overview of nontraditional treatment approaches for obesity. She reviews the extent of scientific evidence for 5 nontraditional approaches for treating obesity and encourages nutrition professionals to remain current on studies of various diet approaches and critically evaluate their usage for their patients and clients. Second, Cathy Nonas details the pharmacological treatment of obesity by reviewing the rationale behind the use of antiobesity medications and highlighting the drugs both currently available along with some that are still being tested in clinical trials.
Davis and Miller's article, "Educational Needs Regarding the Glycemic Index in Diabetes Management," offers a viewpoint of the importance of patients' understanding of the glycemic index when meal-planning and controlling diabetes. They concluded that participants were willing to learn about glycemic index but needed more knowledge of the relationship between glycemic index and blood glucose and specific strategies for achieving a lower glycemic index diet.
Herbold et al's "Political, Demographic, and Social Trends on Nutrition Topics in Print Media" is an ambitious survey of the changing importance of food and nutrition magazine articles. Their research reports an increase in the number of nutrition articles and at the same time a noticeable decrease in the number of recipes offered in magazine articles. Their article also highlights the importance of societal influences on scientific research and magazine content.
This issue includes 2 articles addressing government programs that respond to the needs of an aging population. Huckaby et al's "Evaluation of Outreach Efforts and Outcomes of the Massachusetts Elderly Nutrition Program" targeted a specific region and produced observations that may be useful in predicting home-delivered meal usage trends across the nation. In the 18 programs that participated in the survey, outreach was productive, an average of 2.5% of the population served was minority, and home-delivered meal volume was greater than forecasted. Wunderlich and McKinnon highlight the importance of exercise in government-sponsored nutrition programs in their article "Enhancing Government-sponsored Nutrition Programs for Older Adults by Integrating Exercise Programs." The authors argue that physical activity should accompany any preexisting government-sponsored nutrition education program in order to help meet the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations.
Diane Nelson's article also focuses on nutrition education, but with an eye toward the World Wide Web. Nelson's article "WebQuests: Using the Internet to Teach Nutrition" addresses her incorporation of the Internet when teaching nutrition to seventh-grade students. Nelson shows how problem-based learning activities can be incorporated at all levels of nutrition education, particularly for dietitians in clinical practice and those in nutrition education settings.
This issue also includes a review of Lisa Young's book, The Portion Teller: Smartsize Your Way to Permanent Weight Loss, which was listed as 1 for the 6 favorite health books of 2005 by the Wall Street Journal.
A new year brings the time to celebrate accomplishments and recognize those who give willingly and share their knowledge, advice, and expertise. Therefore, I thank all the reviewers (see listing of 2005 Reviewers) and 2 guest editors, Riva Touger-Decker (20:3) and David Holben (20:4). I also commend the editorial board for their hard work and commitment to TICN. Special thanks are accorded to Sandy Kasko and Donna Caldwell for their publishing and editorial support. This issue also recognizes a new associate editor, Elizabeth Young. "Liz" has been instrumental in organizing, editing, and managing the amount of work needed to produce each issue.
Judith A. Gilbride, PhD, RD, FADA, CDN
Editor