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Adding flavor enhancers to the cooked meals was an effective way to improve dietary intake and body weight in elderly nursing home residents.

Objective: The present study investigated the effects of consuming preloads with different macronutrient and energy contents on subsequent intake and subjective feelings of hunger and satiety in children, young adults and the elderly. Subjects: 30 Children (4 ± 6 y), 33 young adults (18 ± 26 y) and 24 elderly (61 ± 86 y). Design: A`preload test meal' design was applied. Subjects were given four different strawberry yoghurt preloads that varied in energy and macronutrient content, or no yoghurt. Children, young adults and elderly consumed 200, 340 and 300 g of the preload, respectively. One yoghurt was low-fat, low-carbohydrate and low in energy (the control; 0.7 MJa500 g serving), one yoghurt was high-fat and medium in energy (71% of energy (en%) of fat; 2 MJa500 g serving), one yoghurt was high-carbohydrate and medium in energy (87 en% of carbohydrate; 2 MJa500 g serving) and the fourth yoghurt was high-fat and high-carbohydrate and high in energy (42 en% of fat and 53 en% of carbohydrate; 3 MJa500 g serving). Ninety minutes after preload consumption, subjects had an attractive ad libitum lunch-buffet. Energy intake at lunch and subjective feelings of hunger and satiety were analysed. Results: The ability to compensate at lunch did not differ among the three age groups. Compared to the nopreload condition, all children, young adults and elderly ate signi®cantly less after the high-fat and highcarbohydrate yoghurt. The energy compensation observed in the children ranged between 7 21% and 34%, in the young adults between 15% and 44% and in the elderly between 17% and 23%. Hunger responses were clearly different between young adults and the elderly. Compared to the no-preload condition, the young adults showed larger differences in their appetite ratings than the elderly, indicating that the elderly were less sensitive to the energy content of the preload than the young adults. Conclusion: We conclude that the ability to regulate the food intake within a preload 90 min test meal paradigm did not differ among children, young adults and the elderly. Sponsorship: This study was funded by the European Commission as part of project FAIR-CT95-0574.

To assess the efficiency of melanoma screening and prevention campaigns in the Auvergne region (France), cases of melanoma have been recorded since 1st June 1998. The epidemiological follow-up of melanoma was carried out using two sentinel networks; one involving the pathologists, and the other, the dermatologists of the region. Incidence was calculated using the capture-recapture method, by cross-matching the data supplied by both dermatologists and pathologists. Between June 1st 1998 and December 31st 2000, 363 cases of melanoma were recorded. The crude incidence rate of melanoma per 100,000 person-years was 17.1 for all melanomas and 14.6 for invasive melanomas. These rates of incidence were higher than the estimated national rate of France, and were close to incidences found in countries of Northern Europe. This might be explained by an increase in screening for melanoma, by more precise estimation of the incidence due to the capture-recapture method, or by geographic factors (mountainous area). An answer may be provided by following the variation in time of incidence and thickness of melanomas; the increase in the number of thin (low Breslow index) melanomas corresponding with increased screening.

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