Nutrition and fitness : cultural genetic and metabolic aspects This volume contains a selection of papers presented at the Nutrition and Fitness Conference in Shanghai held in November 2006 under the auspices of the World Council on Nutrition Fitness and Health. Starting with a keynote presentation on nutrition fitness and the concept of positive health from ancient times to the present the focus then shifts to the role of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in health and disease. Other topics addressed are non conventional genetic risk factors for cardiovascular disease; the impact of the APO E genotype on health nutrition and fitness; nutrition in the prevention of chronic disease; and the connection between exercise and obesity. Papers on nutritional risk factors for gastrointestinal cancers; mediterranean diets as a global resource in health and disease; as well as political issues conclude the presentations. Covering a wide spectrum of issues these proceedings will be of interest to geneticists nutritionists and dieticians exercise physiologists cultural anthropologists historians pediatricians internists general practitioners health care providers scientists in industry and government policymakers and national and international governmental organizations