Volume 1 Issue 1

▪ Keyword : Editorial

▪ Content : There is a great deal happening in Asia and the Pacific as far as food and health are concerned. The international literature on experimental, clinical and public health nutrition is growing rapidly, some would say too rapidly. But, it is fair to say that the Asia Pacific region is the world's most populous and merits adequate, commensurate, if not disproportionate, representation in this leterature. We have now an Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

▪ Keyword : food memory, neuronal involvement, food recognition

▪ Content : Previous studies indicate that ablation of the temporal cortex including the amygdala (AM) and hyppocampal formation (HF) induce the Kluver-Bucy syndrome in which animals cannot discriminate food from nonfood. Of 710 AM neurons tested, 129 (18.2%) responded to single sensory stimulation (48 to vision, 32 to audition, 49 to ingestion), 142 (20.0%) to multimodal stimulation and only 20 to only one item with affective significance.

▪ Keyword : malnutrition, thyroid hormones, goitre, Malaysian

▪ Content : The relationship between malnutrition, goitre and thyroid hormones was studied among Aborigines and Malays in Ulu Langat, Malaysia. Fifty Aborigines aged more than 7 were selected randomly for anthropometric, clinical and hormonal assessment. Fifty Malays of similar age from the nearby Malay village were chosen as controls. The Aborigines had a higher prevalence of malnutrition and goitre compared to the Malays.

▪ Keyword : early life factors, body mass index, waist-hip ratio, adolescence, Australia

▪ Content : A study of the relative contribution of early, parental, contemporary influences on body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) in adolescence was carried out in 213 families with adolescents in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Weight, height and body circumferences were measured in both parents and children and other relevant information was obtained by questionnaire. The parents of the families studied were broadly representative of the Geelong workforce.

▪ Keyword : clinical nutrition, East Asia, Pacific

▪ Content : Identifying the nutrition problems of Asia and the Pacific is made difficult by the enormous geographic, socioeconomic and cultural diversity that exists in these areas. With increasing longevity and reduced infant mortality, the more chronic diseases are becoming increasingly important. For almost 90% of the countries that keep such data in Western Pacific Region of WHO, at least three of the five leading causes of death are noncommunicable diseases.

▪ Keyword : nutrition, gastrointestinal disorders, glutamine, dietary fiber

▪ Content : The gastrointestinal tract, including the liver and pancreas, is a complex system whose function is to process a wide range of nutrients and other products enabling their absorption as well as detoxification and excretion. During the process, food is converted into energy and into other substances that are used by cells throughout the entire body. Many diseases can afect the various organs of the gastrointestinal (GI) system and diet places a relatively minor role in the onset of such GI diseases.

▪ Keyword : diet, cancer, Singapore

▪ Content : The notion that the diet has an aetiological role in cancer is generally accepted, although the actual agents and mechanisms are still subjects of much research. A major problem in this work is the lack of effective instruments in determining dietary exposures. The wide margin given as the likely population attributable risk (10-70%) is an indication of the relative imprecision of our state of knowledge at this moment.

▪ Keyword : food and nutrition policy, Australia, state of Victoria

▪ Content : The purpose of this paper is to outline the evolution of food and nutrition policy in Australia with particular attention to the state of Victoria. Many of the developments recounted occurred in the early to mid 1980s. Since that time the accumulation of balance of payments and financial difficulties had led Australian governments to adopt ever more defensive postures.

▪ Keyword : public health, nutrition, Singapore

▪ Content : In the early 1960s and 1970s, as a result of surveys and assessments indicating special needs among young children and low-income population groups, the Government of Singapore expanded its public health programme to include direct delivery of food and nutrition services.