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Summarises the reasons behind the formation of a network and support group for self‐employed nutritionists (SENSE). Discusses the pros and cons of self‐employment, and shows how the formation of SENSE is one way in which a con can be turned into a pro. Gives points of contact for potential members and users of the services that SENSE members offer.

To outline the benefits of the ratio of the waist to height ratio (WHTR) and its graphical representation in the Ashwell® shape chart for the assessment of the health risks of obesity. To show that it has potential to be used in all ethnic groups and in adults and children.

A review of the benefits and limitations of the use of some different anthropometric measures to assess the health risks of obesity. Those covered are the body mass index (BMI), the waist to hip ratio (WHR), the waist circumference (WC) and the waist to height ratio (WHTR).

Waist to Height Ratio (WHTR) has the potential to be globally applicable to different ethnic populations and to children as well as adults. Further validation, particularly of the suggested boundary values of 0.5 and 0.6, as used within the Ashwell® shape chart to indicate different levels of risk, is required.

This is the first paper to summarise the accumulating evidence for the benefits of using WHTR and the Ashwell® shape chart to assess health risk.

The purpose of this paper is to decide whether consumption of red and processed meat is associated with iron intakes and/or iron status among young people in Britain. Data from The National Diet and Nutrition Survey: Young People Aged 4‐18 Years was used. A total of 1,169 respondents completed a seven‐day weighed dietary record and provided a blood sample for iron status. Supplement‐users were excluded. RPM was defined as all red meat, meat products and offal excluding white meat. Found that, among girls, iron intakes were low but RPM was not associated with iron intake; boys were less prone to low iron intakes. Opines that low consumption of red meat has adverse implications for iron status. Dietary advice needs to emphasise the importance of bio‐available iron sources (such as meat) as well as other factors that increase iron bioavailability.

To most readers of Nutrition and Food Science, “McCance and Widdowson” is the name of the book they will reach for when they need to, say, compare the protein content of a cheese sandwich and a sausage roll. The Chemical Composition of Foods was first published in 1940 and even now in its fifth edition it is still very much the “bible” for nutritionists, food scientists, dietitians and many others.

In this shortened version of Dr. Ashwell's paper, evidence that a genetic ‘tendency to fatness’ could exist is examined and possibilities which might account for the weight gaining potential of an individual are suggested

You probably think that the slimming market is something which belongs to the latter half of the twentieth century. Yet Allan's Anti‐Fat was advertised to our fat predecessors as long ago as 1878. It was a ‘concentrated fluid extract of sea lichens’ that prevented the body from converting food into fat. This was an American concoction, but we British were no better. Dr. Grey's Electric Fat Reducing Pills were advertised in the ‘Illustrated Sporting and Drama News’ of 1893. These were capable of ‘rapidly and quite safely dissolving superfluous fat, permanently curing corpulency, and improving the general health and figure’. He even kept a ‘special preparation for Army, Naval and Hunting Men, Farmers Jockeys and stubborn cases that have resisted other treatment’. It almost sounds as if the upper classes were ‘allowed’ to have a better class of fat! Leeches were once the doctor's stand by for most diseases and obesity was an obvious case for their use. The leeches got fatter while the patient got thinner!

Briefly outlines the main objectives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) research programme on optimal nutrition status. Summarizes the project portfolio and lists recent, current and future research topics in the programme. Also looks at future plans in the light of the major nutrition review of MAFF‐funded research in 1996 and the research requirements requested that will take the programme into the next millennium.

The opening paragraph of Report on Obesity published by the DHSS and the MRC stresses the importance of obesity. “We are unanimous in our belief that obesity is a hazard to health and a detriment to well‐being. It is common enough to constitute one of the most important medical and public health problems of our time, whether we judge importance by a shorter expectation of life, increased morbidity or cost to the community in terms of both money and anxiety.”