In the Mayer household, it is Jean who does the family grocery shopping. "It's an essential part of writing my column," he said, adding that he spends a lot of time reading product labels. "One look at a label is enough to convince me that I want no part of some goods," he said.

Does Mayer follow the advice he gives to the public in his newspaper column? According to his wife, he does. "Jean eats a lot of salad and fruit and he loves fish. At home he doesn't have meat at all." When she married Mayer in 1942, Betty didn't have to change her eating or cooking habits. "He wasn't a nutritionist yet," she explained. "But he had fairly simple eating habits even then."

Mayer claims he's "not at all a cook" although he's interested in recipes from a nutritional standpoint. When her husband does step into the kitchen, Betty said, it's ssually to make "a marvelous salad." And two or three times a year he stirs up "something French." His secret ambition, Betty revealed, is to learn to bake bread. "He's tried, but it hasn't been a success," she said.

Mayer doesn't always practice what he preaches. Throughout his career has emphasized the importance of exercise in weight control. Betty claims, however, that he doesn't get enough exercise and, as a result, he puts on weight. "He says that travel and lack of time keep him from exercising," she explained.

Lectures and conferences keep Mayer traveling around the world. "There are some weeks," explained Marquand, "when I'll see him on Monday and Wednesday and won't even know that he was in Rome in the interim."

No matter where he's traveled during the week, however, Mayer is always at home for open house on Friday afternoon. "I never miss those open houses," Mayer said. "It's important for the students to know that they can always find me there."

Everyone seems to have his own theory on how Mayer manages to accomplish so much in a day.

The John Marquand theory: "He's very energetic and he makes decisions quickly. He's very good at supervising work and delegating authority."

The Betty Mayer theory: "He doesn't live by a strict schedule, although he'd probably be better off is he did. Whenever I travel with him I think, 'Now we'll have a chance to talk,' but he immediately settles himself down and goes to sleep."

The Stanley Gershoff theory: "If there's one problem that Jean has it's that he's spread too thin. It's only in the last two years that I've heard him talk of being tired."

The Jean Mayer theory: "I think that the way most people conduct their lives, there are periods when they're involved in a variety of things. For a number of years I just did research and whatever teaching went with it."

As nutritionist, author, and government consultant, Mayer is a world-wide figure. But fame brings its share of problems too.

"Jean's a star," said Gershoff. "And as soon as you become a star, people go for your throat. If you do anything wrong, it gets magnified. To be fair to people like Jean, you have to recognize that he has faults and then ask if his accomplishments are worthwhile. When you look at Jean as a whole person, you come out with a big fat plus."