From the editor.

This issue of the Journal is laden with good reading. We begin with an article in the currently most talked about area of nutrition, childhood obesity. Denney-Wilson and colleagues have published the process of development of the Australian standard definition of child and adolescent overweight and obesity. The final product is essential knowledge for all dietitians, paediatricians and public health nutritionists.

Zuppa and co-authors report their findings regarding the number of food advertisements and the types of food advertised during children's television programs. They found that over half the food advertisements was for fast foods, chocolate and confectionery. Only one in five advertisements was for core foods of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. In her leading article, Story comments on this study. The findings from other international studies confirm that advertising of less nutritious foods and persuasion of children to adopt unhealthy eating patterns are important public health issues. They warrant advocacy for policy changes and actions to ensure messages reaching children are in the interests of their health. Given the prevalence of childhood overweight some response is timely.

Addressing a completely different aspect of public health and nutrition of children is the article by Renzaho and Renzaho. It is an evaluation of the nutritional situation of refugee children in a camp in eastern Zaire in 1996, two years after the nutrition intervention began. While the morbidity and mortality were reduced this was not reflected in the nutritional status of the children under three years of age. The prevalence of malnutrition persisted at six percent and was most likely due to inadequate general food rations, poor economic circumstances and inequities in food distribution.

For those of you most interested in clinical nutrition we have published papers concerning spinal muscular atrophy, osteoarthritis and diabetes. Leighton has reviewed the role of nutrition in children with spinal muscular atrophy, the most common genetic condition affecting muscle function. As with her review published last issue, the article explores an area where few dietitians have journeyed. Also investigating newer territory for dietitians are Foley and colleagues, who contribute another study on the assessment of nutritional status in older adults. This one examines people with osteoarthritis. The prevalence of overweight was high. The participants' mean BMI was above 30 but a little less than half the subjects were assessed by the Australian Nutrition Screening Initiative checklist as having high nutritional risk. Only eight of 105 patients had received any formal nutrition advice. A more traditional area for dietitians is diet in diabetes but the Insight article by Voevodin has a new angle. She descri bes the nutrition education requirements of patients with diabetes starting on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion therapy.

Beduschi has reviewed the science behind the most popular ergogenic aids used by athletes. She examines the trials of creatine, hydroxymethylbutyrate, glutamine, carnitine and branched chain amino acids, If you are interested in sports nutrition or you have some amateur enthusiasts in your clinic it is well worth reading this article.

As you are aware the Journal is actively trying to address the needs of dietitians and nutritionists throughout our region. This issue we have contributions from two of our regional editorial board members. Fatimah Arshad presents a viewpoint article on the place of functional foods in the Malaysian diet. Warren Lee, from Hong Kong, reports on the Ninth Asian Congress of Nutrition recently held in New Delhi. There is also a report from the 24th ESPEN congress held in Glasgow last year.

Samman and Lyons-Wall test your knowledge with another vitamin quiz--this time the water-soluble B vitamins. Other regular features such as book reviews and a summary of articles in other journals are all here for you to read.

At the recent DAA conference I was pleased to witness Denise Stapleton receive the Insight award for the article she co-authored concerning pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy. Congratulations to the group and I encourage more of you to submit Insight articles and to be entered in this award sponsored by Novartis. Details of the award appear in the back pages of this issue.

Regretfully, this is the last issue of Nutrition & Diet etirs I will edit. It is sad to be completing my time as Editor but I am very pleased with what the Journal has achieved in the past three-and-a-half years. Unfortunately, I now find myself with insufficient hours in the day to commit to the Journal. On my parting I have used my Editor's prerogative and contributed the editorial for this issue. Some of the attributes I address in this are readily found in this issue. Our role as advocates for those without a voice and our global responsibility are apparent in the articles by Zuppa, Renzaho and Leighton.

Our new Editor will be Associate Professor Linda Tapsell from the University of Wollongong, NSW. Linda has already had over four years' experience as an Associate Editor of the Journal and she has the honour of being the author most published in the Journal. Linda received her Diploma of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Sydney, a Masters of Health Personnel Education at the University of New South Wales and was awarded her PhD in 1996 by the University of Wollongong where she has been on the academic staff since 1990. She is currently the Director of the Smarts Foods Centre there. I wish Linda well in her role as Editor and look forward to watching the Journal continue to develop under her guidance.

Finally, I encourage you all to keep reading and contributing to the Journal as this is the only way it will continue to grow. Farewell!

Margaret Allman-Farinelli

Editor