Later this year, members of the Obesity Society will elect a Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer, and one member of the Council. In addition, two members will be elected to the Nominating Committee.

We are now soliciting nominations for these offices. Members may nominate themselves. Send your nominations to: rpittman@naaso.org.

The airwaves have been thick with coverage of the 2008 presidential race. Are you interested in what the candidates have to say about obesity and health care? Webcasts of the Society's September forum, "The Obesity Challenge: What should the next President do?" are still available on the Kaiser Network. Included are presentations of the health policy advisors for candidates Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Romney, Giuliani, and McCain. Check it out! Kaiser Network

A ruling by the Canadian Transportation Agency earlier this month mandates that disabled travelers - including the severely obese - will not have to purchase an extra seat on a Canadian air carrier if they need one in order to fly. Furthermore, a person who requires an attendant with them during flight will not have to pay an additional fare provided the attendant is accompanying the traveler specifically for medical reasons.

According to the Transportation Agency, "The airlines failed to demonstrate to the agency that implementation of a one-person-one-fare policy will impose undue hardship on them." (www.cbc.ca)

Over the next year, airline officials will determine eligibility criteria for disabled fliers. For obese passengers, this may be more difficult because determining disability as a result of obesity is harder to pinpoint.

In the meantime, disabled persons in Canada are relieved and heartened by this decision.

No such ruling has yet been enacted in the United States.

Even with the holidays, a great deal has been taking place at the Obesity Society:

• The Annual Scientific Meeting planning is well under way. I've established an Annual Meeting Steering Committee made up of the following members: Gary Foster, President, Jackie Stephens, Chair and Jack Yanovski, co-Chair of the Annual Meeting Program Committee, Morgan Downey, Executive Vice President, Robert Eckrich, Director of Education, and Tricia Cavallo, Meeting Planner. The committee's purpose is to smooth out the operations and make sure we continue to present the best scientific program on obesity in the most user-friendly manner. The Annual Meeting Program Committee met on January 10th and 11th to develop our agenda. As you saw, we instituted a survey to assess your views on inclusion of some costs in the registration fees.

• We are awaiting the arrival of the first journal under the leadership of Richard Bergman and published by the Nature Publishing Group. We expect the first issue to reach you around January 16. Don't be surprised by its new look!

• We have had several discussions with the Education Committee Chair, Patrick O'Neil and Sam Klein, Editor in Chief of Obesity OnLine, to continue and to fund this important aspect of our educational mission. Be sure to check out new slide decks at http://www.obesity online.org/

• We have sent out an RFP for an educational partner to work with us on the development of a program for the certification of physicians in obesity.

• We have moved our offices to another location so we can accommodate additional staff. We are at the same street address, 8630 Fenton St. in Silver Spring, but the new suite number is 814. Phone numbers have not changed.

• Speaking of additional staff, we welcome Todd Milton as Editorial Assistant on the journal. We are currently interviewing for a Director of Communications and an Administrative/Financial Director.

• Materials have gone out to committee chairs explaining the Society's organization, structure, and governance and asking what they need from the National Office to better do their jobs. Thanks to Bob Kushner and Peg Williams for their efforts on this project.

• Morgan Downey has participated in meetings of the National Commission on Quality Assurance (NCQA) which is developing obesity screening and assessment standards for adult and childhood obesity, as well as the STOP Alliance which is developing policy recommendations on obesity.

We will continue to keep you updated on all the Society's activities as the year goes along.

Gary Foster, President

The Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) in Baton Rouge, LA has announced a milestone conference: The 20 Most Significant Advances in Obesity Research, Prevention, and Treatment. Chaired by George Bray, Leslie Kozak, Eric Ravussin, and Claude Bouchard, the conference will convene at PBRC in Baton Rouge, LA from March 3-4, 2008. It will bring together the scientists, clinical investigators, and public health experts who are responsible for the major discoveries and advances impacting obesity research in the last few decades. This conference is one of a series of events marking the 20th anniversary of the Center.

Interested parties may register at www.pbrc.edu. Attendance is limited to the first 300 paid registrants. Registrants may fly directly to the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport and take advantage of conference hotel rates.

The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is a campus of the Louisiana State University System and conducts basic, clinical, and population research. The Center's nearly 600 employees occupy several buildings on the 234-acre campus. Its mission is to promote healthier lives through research and education in nutrition and preventive medicine

For more than 30 years, health professionals across all fields of science have been working to develop a food rating system to help consumers decipher complicated nutrition information in order to make better food choices (which in turn can lead to better health overall). Included in this article is a brief review of three existing food rating systems that attempt to tackle the difficult challenge of helping people understand more about what they put in their mouths.

A new food rating system will be unveiled in supermarkets this summer. The Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI) was developed by TOS member Dr. David Katz of the Yale Griffin Prevention Center to help consumers make more conscientious food choices by assigning foods a score from one to 100 (100 being the healthiest) based on their overall nutritional quality. The ONQI uses a specially designed algorithm to determine a food's score by looking at its macro- and micro-nutrient content and nutritional properties. The index - which factors in 30 different values - also assigns a rank order of "relative nutritiousness" to foods across all food groups and within specific food groups as well.

When asked to comment on the ONQI and how it might affect body weight regulation Dr. Katz responded, "Included [in the ONQI] are various measures that a fast-growing literature indicates have direct implications for weight management, including: energy density; fiber content; and glycemic load, to name a few. There is also good evidence from the National Weight Control Registry that a mainstay for those who not only lose weight, but also keep it off, is to eat a well-balanced, judicious diet."

For more information about the ONQI, visit www.onqi.com or contact Dr. Katz directly at david.katz@yale.edu.

Another rating system is already in place in Hannaford Supermarkets across the country. Developed by a panel of health experts, the Guiding Stars program is designed to help shoppers identify healthy foods by assigning foods one, two, or three stars according to nutritional content. A food earns points for healthful content (such as vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber) and loses points for unhealthy additions (such as trans fats, saturated fats, added sugars and sodium). The resulting number is used to determine how many stars a food is awarded. The Guiding Stars program rates more than 25,000 brand-name foods. In addition, Hannaford has developed education materials to help consumers understand more about their nutrition and food choices. Materials include a Heart Healthy Nutrition Kit, a Meal Planner, Monthly newsletter, population-specific nutrition guides, and detailed information on the Hannaford website.

For more information about the Guiding Stars program, visit: www.hannaford.com.

A third rating system, developed by Dr. Adam Drewnowski, a TOS member and a leading nutritionist from the University of Washington, determines the nutrient density of a food based on 14 key nutrients that have been identified as essential to a healthy diet (also referred to as the naturally nutrient rich score). Unlike the aforementioned scoring systems, Dr. Drewnowski's approach - which he also refers to as nutrient profiling - has appeared in several peer- reviewed journals, permitting the science community- at-large to comment and participate in the evaluation process. According to Drewnowski, "The performance of alternative food ranking systems needs to be validated against measures of a healthy diet. For that, model algorithms need to be simple, transparent, and open to all." Dr. Drewnowski is also an advisory member on the Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition, a partnership that promotes healthy eating using the concept of nutrient-dense foods.

For more information about Dr. Drewnowski's work visit: www.nutrientric hfoods.org or contact him directly at adamdrew@u.washington.edu.

There has yet to be any consensus among health professionals about which - if any - of the existing food rating systems are beneficial to consumers or even scientifically accurate.

TOS member Jim Hill, PhD, Professor at the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Denver, believes that a nutritional rating system is a great idea, but also feels strongly about implementing just one. "We need a single, simple system to avoid confusing the consumer. My hope is that the food industry can work through differences to adopt a universal system. If they cannot, then perhaps one of the regulatory bodies should get involved in adopting a single rating system. Having multiple rating systems may do more harm than good - the consumer may tune them all out."

In the next several years, Americans can expect to hear more discussion and debate about food rating systems, especially as government agencies inevitably become involved.

The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) is a membership organization dedicated to supporting the postdoctoral community in the United States, with an emphasis on improving the postdoctoral experience for the more than 48,000 postdoctoral scholars that are working in U.S. The NPA's mission is to "advance the U.S. research enterprise by maximizing the effectiveness of the research community and enhancing the quality of the postdoctoral experience for all participants." NPA values include the following:

• Grassroots participation in the decision-making process, both internally and externally.
• Professional satisfaction and meaningful career opportunities for postdoctoral scholars, which recognize the importance of balancing work and personal needs.
• Collaboration and dialogue to achieve consensus among all stakeholders on the best methods for addressing issues and obtaining desired outcomes for the postdoctoral community.
• Objective data to inform critical decision- making.

For more information about NPA or to become a member, visit www.nationalp ostdoc.org or contact them by phone at 202-326- 6424.

While the constellation of risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes have yet to be assigned a single term by the medical community, there is little debate that these components: central adiposity; hypertension; dyslipidemia; insulin resistance; and a pro-inflammatory state, when collectively present in patients, place them at even greater risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes

In an effort to educate the medical community about these risk factors, Discovery Health produced a continuing medical education program that is currently running on the Discovery health Channel entitled, "Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: Hitting the Targets", featuring a panel of physician experts invluding Obesity Society members Caroline Apovian, MD and Louis Aronne, MD. The show is also available to view online, via Podcast, or free DVD. These platforms can all be accessed at www.disc o veryhealthcme.com

Western Region
Judith S. Stern, PhD
University of California at Davis

California
Elsa Ramirez Brisson (Food FUNdamentals) is doing research on the eating habits and behaviors of first grade students and their mothers. Finding qualitative studies of this age group for literature review and to support her methods have been challenging, but she hopes to have a full report on this study by the summer. MRC Greenwood (University of California at Davis) was appointed Acting Director of "Foods for Health." Tom Robinson (Stanford University School of Medicine), Director of The Center for Healthy Weight at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, is hosting monthly research seminars to promote sharing of ideas and stimulate new interdisciplinary collaborations for pilot projects, grant proposals, clinical programs, advocacy, and education. Tom Robinson recently gave a seminar on "Studies of Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity."

Colorado
Paul MacLean (University of Colorado Health Sciences Center) would like everyone to know that The Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Denver is hosting a meeting entitled, "Recent Advances and Controversies in the Measurement of Energy Metabolism" on February 5th-7th, 2008. It is a meeting focused on the methodological tools used to measure energy expenditure and fuel utilization, including indirect calorimetry, and function.

Colorado State University department of Health and Exercise Science has two Assistant Professor positions open; one is for a Behavior Health Scientist and the second is for a person in biomechanics, neuromuscular control, or molecular physiology. Visit http://hes.cahs.c olostate.edu for descriptions and contact details.

Midwest Region
Melissa C. Nelson, PhD, RD
University of Minnesota

Ellen Demerath (University of Minnesota) received a $200,000 faculty development grant from the Academic Health Center, University of Minnesota, to initiate a study of adiposity changes in premature infants and international adoptees undergoing catch- up growth. The goal is to identify patterns of linear and weight growth, as well as maternal and nutritional factors, that predict elevated adiposity in the first 6 months of life. Bob Jeffery (University of Minnesota) is a member of the Program Committee organizing the upcoming conference entitled, "Energy Balance and Cancer: Mediators and Mechanisms". This meeting will be held from February 24 - 26, 2008, at the Lansdowne Resort in Lansdowne, VA. This event is sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, the Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer Centers, and the National Cancer Institute. More information can be found at: http://www.aacr.org/home/scientists/me etings--workshops/energy-balance-and- cancer.aspx

Southern Region
Steven R. Smith, MD
Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Alabama
Douglas Heimburger, MD, Professor in the Division of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics in the Departments of Nutrition Sciences and Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was recently listed on the Best Doctors in America list. He was also recently named Health Care Educator of the Year by the Birmingham Business Journal.