December 12, 1999

Article on health benefits of 'functional foods,' being marketed by drug and consumer-goods companies; says grocery aisles are stacked with rows of margarines, breakfast cereals, salad dressings and snacks that promise to fight heart disease, osteoporosis and other ailments; in some cases, products are billed as alternatives to medicine; says critics contend that some manufacturers exaggerate products' health benefits, especially when brand may contain ingredients that do as much harm as good; Michael F Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest, says there is a lot of quackery; photos (M)

ASK Nabila Kassam what she wants to do when she grows up, and the petite, bright-eyed 17-year-old breaks into a confident smile. ''I'm going to have a perfume empire,'' she declares, perching on a plastic chair as the late afternoon sun slants through the windows of her school cafeteria. ''I have a passion for perfume,'' she explains. She pushes the edge of her sleeve slightly up over her wrist, and closing her eyes -- unmarked by liner or mascara -- she takes a deep whiff. Then she frowns. ''Well, it's worn off now, but this morning I put on Red Door, by Elizabeth Arden -- or was it Contradiction by Calvin Klein?''

Terry McAuliffe's closeness with Pres Clinton, for whose election campaigns and other endeavors he has helped raise $275 million, has enhanced web of business deals that has generated tens of millions of dollars for himself, but he keeps his affairs so private that he does not even have a business listing in Washington telephone directory; raising money for politicians, once a ticket to an ambassador's post or other influential job in government, is increasingly becoming a way to enrich oneself; McAuliffe says people want to do business with him not only because of his ties to president, but also because of his ties to other influential officials; says he uses his influence to get people together with Clinton or to recommend them for presidential appointments, but he never discusses substantive issues with the president or lobbies him; photos (L)

WHAT brought them together, Trinh Duong said as she cuddled her baby son, Jeremy, was the feeling that people need to take control of their lives. She sat in a cluttered office in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with three of her comrades from the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, where they were trying to do nothing less than create a new labor movement for the next century. With one exception, the six founders of the group are Asian-American immigrants or the children of Asian immigrants. Some grew up watching their parents work in sweatshops. All are under 30, and they are idealistic and energized in a 60's kind of way, a refreshing antidote to the money-mad, I.P.O.-frenzied youngsters on Wall Street.

Loss of Secrets Is Detailed When a former Los Alamos scientist was indicted, the government said it found a broad compromise of classified information. PAGE 47 Ban on Gifts Proposed The majority leader of the New York State Senate is proposing that legislators be barred from accepting any gifts from lobbyists. PAGE 55