Congratulations to all—readers, staff, contributors, editors—on the publication of the 50th volume of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (JNEB). This is a great milestone, and one in which I am pleased to have had a role.

The first decade of the Journal of Nutrition Education witnessed successful establishment of a quarterly publication. The second decade that began in 1978 with Volume 10 was characterized by quantitative increases in the number of issues and published pages, as well as qualitative gains in the identity and reputation of the publication. During this time period, the Journal evolved from an informative periodical for the practicing nutrition educator to one that began to establish scholarship in the field of nutrition education, publicize more sophisticated methodology and specialized instrumentation, and became the publication venue of choice for those doing cutting-edge research in the field.

Increasingly, foods are being marketed on the basis of health-promoting properties their sellers claim they possess. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published a study, "Generic Copy Test of Food Health Claims in Advertising," in which they studied various types of disclosures and warnings in food ads on consumers' interpretation of the information and their ability to use it in answering questions related to the test ads. The study is reviewed and implications for nutrition education and for public policy are presented.

Although class size has been researched extensively at the primary and secondary levels, studies at the college level are fewer in number and lack any substantive assessment of classroom behavior. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship among lecture size and both student and faculty attitudes and behavior as well as student performance in an introductory college-level nutrition course. Two sections of NFSC 100, with different lecture sizes, (n = 141- large, 347- very large) were taught in Spring 1997 by the same 3-member teaching team, using the same teaching resources. The only performance differences related to lecture size occurred with the in-lecture quiz, where students in the large lecture section performed significantly better than students in the very large lecture section (p < 0.05). Student attitudes regarding classroom environment were significantly less favorable (p< 0.01) and students asked fewer questions in the very large lecture section. Lecture and lecture notes were rated by students as the most important resources in terms of their contribution to learning and these attitudes were significantly and positively correlated with performance. Actual attendance in lecture also correlated positively with performance, regardless of the lecture size (p < 0.01). Our results suggest that classroom climate may be negatively influenced by increasing the size of the large lecture class but students are independent learners and many are able to compensate when given time to prepare outside of class.

The world’s older population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. Iran is 1 of the countries where the aging population is higher than the global average. Depression is 1 of the most common issues in older adults that can be managed by nonpharmacologic interventions such as the consumption of green tea. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of green tea consumption on depression in the elderly people. In this quasi-experimental study, 76 elderly people who were residents in a nursing home and met the inclusion criteria were selected through simple random sampling. Then, green tea in 3-g tea bags was brewed in 80°C water and half an hour after breakfast and lunch was given to the participants in a 5-week protocol. One day after the last time of brewing green tea, participants were assessed with a standard depression questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS Version 19 software (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY). The descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon statistical test analysis were also conducted at a significant level of P < .05. Based on the findings, the mean score of the participants’ depression level decreased by 2.5 points after the intervention, which is statistically significant at a 99.9% confidence interval (P = .001). The findings also suggest that the severe depression decreased from 23.6% to 11.1%, moderate depression decreased from 45.8% to 26.4%, and mild depression increased from 30.6% to 45.8%; only severe and moderate depression cases were reduced (P = . 001). The findings of the present study reveal that regular consumption of green tea can lead to a considerable reduction of depression in the elderly people. Accordingly, the consumption of this tea in the elderly people’s diet is recommended, especially those who are resident in the care centers.

Teamwork and delegation as alternative management styles are described in terms of management production functions using Cobb-Douglas specifications; a comparison is made between management systems with teamwork at the top (the German Vorstand system) and at the ground level (Japanese quality circles) as extreme cases.

Dietary fat is a symbol of public policy and politics, incorporating the areas of science, agriculture, health, economics, social psychology, and marketing. Governmental actions greatly affect its availability and consumption.

This study examined the applicability of the transtheoretical model of change to assess readiness to increase fruit and vegetable intake in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Using data from the 1991 5 A Day baseline survey of 2811 respondents, this study developed an algorithm based in part on responses to fruit and vegetable questions for classifying people into alternative stages of change. Associations were examined between stages of change, fruit and vegetable intake, and demographic and psychosocial factors. Results indicated that individuals can be classified by stage of change vis à vis fruit and vegetable intake. Persons in the higher stages of maintenance reported intakes that met national dietary recommendations of five or more servings of fruit and vegetables daily and those in action reported intakes that approached this level. Regression analyses showed that stages of change were a significant predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption, explaining 17% of the variation in fruit and vegetable intake. Stages of change and knowing the number of fruit and vegetable servings one should eat for good health provided the most parsimonious model, explaining 25% of the variance in total fruit and vegetable intake, compared with 29% for the full model.These findings suggest that stages are a successful predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption and implies a utility for the transtheoretical theory in the design and evaluation of stage-based nutrition messages for chronic disease prevention.

Uncontrolled diabetes causes liver and renal dysfunctions. Since, saffron may improve diabetes control and indicate renal and liver protection, this study purposed to illustrate for the first time the effects of saffron extract on some liver and renal functional parameters among diabetic patients.In this double-blind clinical trial, 54 type 2 diabetic patients were randomly recruited to consume either 15 mg saffron extract (n = 27) or placebo capsules (n = 27) twice a day for 8 weeks. Alkaline phosphatase, aspartate and alanine amino transferase, uric acid, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine of the patients as well as their physical activity, dietary intakes, anthropometric measures and blood pressure were measured. Data were analyzed by SPSS.18 software.Uric acid and blood urea nitrogen were significantly decreased in the saffron group (P < 0.05), however, there were no significant differences between the two groups at the end of the study (p = 0.29 and 0.14, respectively). Moreover, changes in other profiles, including liver enzymes, were not statistically significant in the two groups. Also, no significant changes in blood pressure, dietary intakes, and physical activity were seen among the two groups.Saffron hydro-alcoholic extract did not considerably improve renal and liver functions in T2DM patients in an 8-week randomized clinical trials. The results deserved further investigations with more accurate methods to confirm.

In her article “Uses of the Recommended Dietary Allowances” (J Am Diet Assoc. 1996;96:659–662), Sims presents various uses of dietary standards. But as far as I know, everyone agrees that we need dietary standards. The argument is whether or not the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) are the most useful standards that can be developed.

The purpose of this study was to document the development of a consortium to lead a school-based nutrition program and to evaluate consortium effectiveness in guiding and implementing program activities and consortium sustainability. The overall program objective was to provide nutrition education to elementary school children in a low-income rural community and to provide reinforcing messages to parents via the school; the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; the Food Stamp program; and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program. A new consortium of representatives from these agencies and the community was developed. Memoranda of agreement were developed between the primary organizations involved. Operation and sustainability of the consortium were evaluated by types of members, participation of members, group activities, interviews with key staff, and member satisfaction. Project activities were implemented essentially as planned, the consortium operated effectively, and members were satisfied with the consortium and project, but sustainability of the consortium as it existed during the project is questionable. A major barrier to sustainability of the consortium was members who were already overcommitted due to interest in community initiatives. Leadership of the collaborative would be better fostered if duties within agencies involved were redistributed to include consortium involvement. Consortium members must feel that their efforts are valued by the community and employers.

Those who originally formulated the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) ( (1) Food and Nutrition Board.Recommended Dietary Allowances. 10th ed. National Academy Press, Washington, DC1989 Google Scholar ) in 1941 as a “guide for advising on nutrition problems in connection with national defense” (p 10) also recognized that these values would become “standards to serve as a goal for good nutrition” (p 1). As scientific knowledge has advanced and allowances have been established for additional nutrients, so too have the uses of the RDA expanded to meet a variety of purposes, most of which were never envisioned by the creators of the RDAs.

Dramatic changes in lifestyles and the environment have brought about significant alterations in children's eating patterns and food choices. Understanding these changes is pivotal if we are to help today's children establish healthy eating patterns, which contribute to the prevention and delay of chronic disease later in life.

This study describes the second of two phases of research in the formative evaluation of a nutrition education booklet. In the first phase, focus group participants provided feedback on a set of existing nutrition education materials. That feedback was used to develop content samples and design mockups that were then submitted to focus group participants in phase two. The objectives of phase two were 1) to determine whether or not the translation of reported preferences into prototypic samples and mockups was acceptable, and 2) to collect feedback that would help refine the most promising samples and mockups for inclusion in the booklet. Subjects were 28 non-pregnant, non-nursing homemakers between the ages of 20 and 50. Twenty of the subjects were sequentially assigned to one of three ''novice'' groups, each of which were interviewed only once. The eight remaining subjects served as a panel that was interviewed three times. Content samples and design mockups were used to stimulate focus group discussion through a special triad technique. Results provide a basis for decision-making with respect to 1) the design and content of nutrition education brochures for household food managers, and 2) the use of panels versus ''novice'' groups in future focus group research.

Dr. Sims is Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Maryland at College Park. Long active in food labeling efforts, she served as a member of the NAS/Institute of Medicine's 1989–90 Committee on “Nutrition Components of Food Labeling” and the 1991 Committee on “State Food Labeling.” She currently is the Society for Nutrition Education's representative on FLEDGE (Food Label Education Dialogue Group) and a member of the American Dietetic Association's Food Label Education Task Force.