University Advancement

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NEWS RELEASE

Students to Face Off in Nutrition Bowl to Test
Their Knowledge of Food and Nutrition

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., March 28, 2007) — University students from Washington to California will test their knowledge of food and nutrition and what they mean to human survival at Cal State Northridge’s fifth annual Nutrition College Bowl on Saturday, April 14.

The event tests participants’ knowledge of such obscure facts as the names of the three branched-chain amino acids, the BMI (body mass index) range that defines the weight classification "overweight," and which gender cannot metabolize much alcohol in the cells that line the stomach due to low activity of alcohol dehydrogenase.

The only Nutrition Bowl in the nation, the event is designed to encourage an enthusiasm for learning, a spirit of teamwork and a sense of community among students enrolled in nutrition and food science programs.

"In many ways, this is the perfect combination of nutrition, education and teamwork," said family and consumer sciences lecturer Annette Besnilian, associate director of CSUN’s Marilyn Magaram Center for Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics, which hosts the competition. "The bowl is a lot of fun, but at the same time it’s testing what the students have learned in their classrooms."

The contest is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. in Nobbs Auditorium in the Marilyn Magaram Center in Sequoia Hall near the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

Teams representing nine universities are scheduled to compete. In addition to Northridge, the universities include Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Central Washington University, Cal State Chico, Cal State San Bernardino, Pepperdine University, San Diego State University and the University of California, Berkeley.

The winning team will be awarded $1,000 and a plaque to display at its home campus until next year’s competition.

For more information about the Nutrition College Bowl, call the Marilyn Magaram Center at (818) 677-3102, e-mail magaram.center@csun.edu or visit the center’s Web site at http://hhd.csun.edu/magaram.

(In case you were wondering: The three branched-chain amino acids are leucine, isoleucine and valine. The BMI range is 25 to 29.9. And women cannot metabolize much alcohol in the cells that line the stomach.)