Volume 59, Number 1, March 2002
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From the Editor Volume 59, Number 1, March 2002 |
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From
the Editor Jane Scott has contributed a leading article addressing the contribution of maternal nutrition to pregnancy outcome and health outcomes for the offspring throughout life. It adds support for the type of work reported by Begley in this issue. She reports on a qualitative study of barriers to good nutrition during pregnancy. Ninety women of child-bearing age participated in focus groups. Among the barriers identified were the number of other health issues women had to deal with while pregnant, a lack of knowledge and advice on good nutrition intakes for pregnancy, that the listeria awareness program had given food a negative connotation and general practitioners either lacked knowledge or time or both to discuss nutrition. A final barrier was insufficient details being provided in written materials freely available to pregnant women. Lidgard and Yeatman have identified a serious lack of knowledge among dietitians in the area of labelling requirements and the new Food Standards Code. Their study was conducted in NSW and only included 42 dietitians so it is hard to make generalisations about the profession as a whole. However, it is suggested you read the article and then take the quiz in the Continuing Education section to see if you are prepared for the introduction of the code. Most dietitians were found to have favourable attitudes to the changes including the mandatory nutrition information panel and advisory statements. Radcliffe and colleagues report on their secondary analyses of the 1995 National Nutrition Survey examining nutrient intakes of children aged two to five years old. This study was conducted to develop nutrition recommendations for food provided during long-day child-care hours as a percentage of recommended dietary intakes for children. It was found that the recommendation to provide 50% of the recommended dietary intake for nutrients during long-day child-care hours was consistent with the children’s current eating patterns. Hughes has assessed the attitudes of dietitians involved in the supervision of students on professional placement, and of managers of their departments, regarding initiatives introduced by the training school to improve supervisory capacity. There was strong support for the initiatives especially for a placement honorarium. Most respondents stated that the overall benefits of supervising dietetics students outweighed the costs. Pollard and colleagues describe and report on the use of an assessment tool to determine whether menus provide 50% of recommended dietary intake of nutrients. Invoices and dockets were used to assess food provided with adjustment for wastage, stock inventory and donated food. The authors describe the steps involved in evaluating whether the food will provide adequate nutrient intake for children in long-day child-care centres. While the tool was designed for this area of food service it may be adapted for use in other areas. Your attention is drawn to the obituary for Patricia Dunn. Obviously the profession of dietetics has lost an outstanding role model. All who knew Pat must be deeply saddened by her passing but her achievements are a true inspiration to all dietitians and nutritionists. I marvel at all Pat achieved in her lifetime. This issue contains reports on two important conferences. Linda Tapsell reports on the 3rd Asian Congress of Dietetics held in Kuala Lumpur from 18 to 21 August. The program focussed on the health profile of Asia and developments in the practice of dietetics and education of dietitians. It is envisaged some further detailed reports will be published in future issues of the Journal. The Cancer Council of Australia and the New Zealand Cancer Society conducted a meeting in Sydney in June and the convenor, Terry Slevin, has provided a detailed report. The title was ‘Eat and run’ alluding to the major themes of the link between cancer and nutrition, physical activity and cancer, and obesity and cancer. The letters to the Editor include a follow-up of a previous article by Peach and Barnett and examines the relationship of serum ferritin and body fat distribution. Beard and von Witt report on the inappropriate promotion of black salt for people with hypertension. Of
interest from the journals and the book reviews provide some more continuing
education and much useful material. Good reading! Margaret Allman-Farinelli |