EDITORIALStionally satisfying. There are many examples of a relationship between health and an individual's assumption of responsibility for the consequences of personal practices, e.g. consuming food, liquor, drugs, wearing protective devices on the job, buckling auto safety belts, complying with prophylactic or therapeutic regimens, etc. Theoretical arguments against acceptance and ultimate dissemination of the Heart Healthy curriculum include: the need to extend the limited observations of Coates, et al, in order to establish the replicability and generalizability of their initial observations, the possible low cost-benefit of this curriculum component compared to some other curriculum, and the possibility that childhood diet and exercise may not affect adult cardiovascular disease appreciably.The preceding reflections should in no way detract from the contribution represented by the study of Coates and his colleagues. These investigators undertook a difficult evaluation with limited state-of-the-art tools and demonstrated that health education effectiveness could be measured objectively and that children's behaviors could be changed by relatively efficient means. Whether or not the specific behaviors they changed are critical to health seems less important than the fact that behaviors can be changed by soundly based and executed health education, when and if the relationship of these behaviors to health are established.