![]() It is to this community, and others in Oaxaca like it, that I dedicate my work my goal is that this work will benefit their livelihoods and wellbeing. The preschool was a community center that thrived on the interaction, and they made an impact on me just as much as I did on them. Mothers openly breastfed their babies, waiting to speak with the teacher, or even while speaking with me, and it was beautiful. I observed parent-teacher conferences, interactions between parents, and interactions between children. My interviews were primarily based in a preschool, and while there, I was able to see how this community interacted and flourished in a way that I would not have otherwise if I was solely based in a clinical setting. On the surface, my project focused on food and seasonality over the course of a year in southern Mexico, however, this project was actually centered on the hospitality, warmth, and good-hearted nature of the people with whom I interviewed and developed relationships. ![]() (Kayla Hurd performing a finger prick to measure a participant’s hemoglobin level with a point of care machine in Oaxaca.) Funding from the Kellogg Institute for International Studies will allow me to travel to Oaxaca during the first, second, and third sessions of this project. By examining dietary practices and taking blood spots concurrently, I will test how consumption patterns are directly expressed via hemoglobin levels. I propose that the consumption of grasshoppers during the wet season (May-October) reduces the prevalence of anemia in Oaxaca. Specifically, I will examine the correlation between diet, seasonality, blood iron levels, and health status in relation to individuals with anemia and those that consume insects. ![]() Utilizing these field excursions, I will explore how seasonality affects people’s diets in Oaxaca. ![]() Being the most common nutritional deficiency in the world, iron-deficiency anemia affects nearly 2 billion people.1,2 To examine this, my project will include four two-week field excursions from JanuaryDecember 2019, investigating how people in Oaxaca, Mexico offset anemia through the cultural practice of consuming insects. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |