NAASO is proud to announce the following 2004 Award recipients:

The Tops Award, recognizing singular achievement or contribution to research in the field of obesity, is being awarded to Richard Bergman, MD. This award is made possible by an annual grant from Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS).

Antonio Tataranni, PhD has been named the 2004 recipient of the Lilly Scientific Achievement Award, recognizing excellence in an established research career. This award is made possible through an annual grant from the Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Company.

The Stunkard Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Claude Bouchard, MD. This award honors those who have made a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the field of obesity.

The recipient of the George Bray Founders Award is David York, PhD. Dr. York is being recognized for his significant contributions advancing the science for understanding and treating obesity.

Congratulations to all 2004 Award Winners. The Awards will be presented during special Annual Meeting sessions, Tuesday, November 16, and Wednesday, November 17, at 8:00 am.

The US Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) released the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans report on August 27. Individuals and organizations are encouraged to provide written comments by September 27.

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee included NAASO Members Janet King, PhD, RD, Chair; Benjamin Caballero, MD, PhD; Vay Liang W. Go, MD; Russell R. Pate, PhD; and F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, MD, MPH.

The Advisory Committee's extensive discussion and review yielded nine major messages:

• Consume a variety of foods within and among the basic food groups while staying within energy needs.
• Control calorie intake to manage body weight.
• Be physically active every day.
• Increase daily intake of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and nonfat or low-fat milk and milk products
• Choose fats wisely for good health
• Choose carbohydrates wisely for good health.
• Choose and prepare foods with little salt.
• If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation
• Keep food safe to eat.

The Dietary Guidelines are reviewed and updated by HHS and USDA every five years. The 6th edition is expected to be published in January 2005.

NAASO urges all Members to review this important report and respond with expert commentary.

Obesity Reports are featured in this newsletter, Obesity,and archived on our Website. We invite you to send obesity-related unique and peculiar cases encountered during the treatment of obesity. By sharing the experiences of clinicians and researchers encountering anecdotal cases, unexpected observation, behavior or treatment response, or successful (or unsuccessful) treatment strategies, we expect to increase the dialogue among the membership and promote future collaborative projects.

Consider sharing your experiences with fellow Members and interested obesity professionals. Take a look at previous Case Study of the Month Reports.

NIH Releases Final Strategic Obesity Research Plan
The NIH recently announcend the release of the final version of the Strategic Plan for NIH Obesity Research.

NAASO commented on the original version of this strategic plan and applauds the efforts made by the NIH to address this crucial problem.

Special Thanks
Thank you to Dale R. Romsos, PhD, Professor of Nutrition, Michigan State University, for donating out-of-print issues of Obesity Research to the NAASO office. We are very grateful!

More out-of-print Obesity Research Issues Needed
Several back issues for our office archival collection are still needed. Please consider recycling your out-of-print issues to the NAASO office to the attention of Michele Taussig. Issues most needed include:

• Volume 1, Number 2, March 1993
• Volume 3, Supplement 1, 1995
• Volume 3, Supplement 2, 1995

Canada
Universit=E9 Laval
Denis Richard (president of the organizing committee) and Paul Boisvert (logistics) from the Laval University Research Chair on Obesity are organizing their 6th annual international symposium on obesity in Quebec City, on November 20th. Entitled "The endocannabinoid system and its role in energy homeostasis" the symposium features the mechanisms of action and functions, the regulation of energy balance and anti-obesity drugs targets. Registrations are open to the scientific community. For more information about the program and registration, vist the symposium website.

Mexico
Dr. Jorge Gonzalez-Barranco is now Head of the Obesity Unit in the Hospital Infantil de Mexico Dr. Federico Gomez as of August 16, 2004. Congratulations Dr. Gonzalez-Barranco.

South
Steve Smith reports that an updated version of The Obesity Gene Map is published on-line.
The Obesity Gene Map web site was developed to address the problems associated with the generation of increasingly detailed information on the location and properties of a growing number of obesity- related genes. It is an extension of the annual publication in Obesity Research that was started almost 10 years ago.
Data from published peer-reviewed papers was used as the starting point for constructing the Obesity Gene Map database. This information was then extensively cross-referenced internally, then linked to external resources such as OMIM, LocusLink and GenBank. The project is led by Claude Bouchard, Ph.D. and Eric Snyder, PhD. from the Human Genomics Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA. Brandon M. Walts also from the Human Genomics Laboratory, provides support and maintenance of the database. Key contributors to this project include Drs Tuomo Rankinen from PBRC, and Louis Persuse, John Weisnagel and Yvon Chagnon from Laval University in Quebec City.
If you have not been to the website; take a look, you will be pleasantly surprised.