Overview & History

In July 2006, a combined meeting of three groups run under the auspices of The International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) will be held in Cairns, Australia. The groups are ISSFAL, the Essential Fatty Acids & Eicosanoids Congress and the regular meeting of the PUFA in Maternal & Child Health interest group.

ISSFAL was established in March 1991 with the objective of increasing the understanding of the role of dietary fatty acids and lipids in health and disease through research and education. ISSFAL's members represent more than 40 countries its mission is to serve as a focus for communication among interested scientists - working in nutrition, physiology, pathology, biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology and clinical medicine - who are studying the biological effects of fatty acids and lipid metabolism in health and disease. ISSFAL plays a key role in interpreting the new facts into sound nutritional advice for the public.

The sixth Congress of the Essential Fatty Acids and Eicosanoids will be held in Cairns in conjunction with the ISSFAL meeting. These meetings have been held approximately every five years since 1980. The meetings have been held in Minnesota, London, Adelaide (in 1992, organised by Bob Gibson and Andy Sinclair), Edinburgh and Taiwan.

The PUFA in Maternal and Child Health meetings are a special interest group who have organised 3 meetings (Barcelona and Kansas City, 02 and 03) and focus on the role of PUFA in perinatal nutrition.

By bringing together all groups interested in the role of dietary fatty acids in health and disease the Cairns meetings will be one of the strongest for many years and aims to rival the very successful meetings run in Montreal (02) and Brighton (04).

Further information about the Society and how to become a member can be found at http://www.issfal.org.uk/