Dietary changes among husbands of participants in a low-fat dietary intervention.

A dietary intervention delivered to one family member with a beneficial impact on other members could provide a cost-effective approach to public health dietary intervention programs. The Women's Health Trial (WHT) was a study in which women were randomized to be trained in adopting a low-fat diet or to continue their normal diet. The intervention women consumed 21% of total calories from fat versus 38% for control women at six months postrandomization.

Relationships of cardiac and somatic growth in infancy and childhood.

Recent advances at clinical and experimental levels bespeak the need for a more complete understanding of cardiac growth and its relationship to somatic growth. The size of the heart is integral to several physiologic processes, including aerobic and work capacity, athletic performance, and reproduction. Because the morphologic foundations for cardiac size are laid in large part before adulthood, cardiac growth and the factors controlling it are important in achieving optimal cardiovascular fitness.