Daystar youth chosen as food researcher in nation-wide program.

SASKATOON

"The Verna J. Kirkness Be a Food Researcher for a Week" program began this Spring with an awarding experience for 12

First Nation, Metis and Inuit students from across Canada. The students were chosen through a national competition to spend a week in food research laboratories alongside leading scientists at five Canadian universities.

Among those chosen for the week-long, all expense paid trip was Gabrielle McCallum of the Daystar First Nation.

McCallum is an outgoing, enthusiastic grade 12 student with a keen interest in science. She was encouraged by her teachers to apply for the competition and with her strong reference letters and interest in studying food sciences, she landed the internship easily.

The program was designed to make science more accessible to First Nation, Metis and Inuit youth and to build awareness of the importance food science has in a person's daily nutritional intake. It was created to honor the memory of Dr. Verna J. Kirkness, a Canadian educator with a lifelong career in this area.

"Education is the key to the future of our young Aboriginal people, and an opportunity to be a food researcher for a week is an exciting and meaningful connection to the broad world of science," said Dr. Kirkness, a member of the Order of Canada and a lifelong advocate of Aboriginal Education. "As the program becomes known, it will motivate youth to consider science as an inspiring field of study," she added.

The Advanced Foods and Materials Network (AFMNet) organized the program, as a national network of hundreds of science researchers, professionals, industry partners and government agencies working on 20 research projects across Canada. The research is meant to ensure accountability in companies providing goods bought by the public, particularly consumed products. Not to mention finding new ways for improvement of those products, whether they are antibiotics, frozen foods, dairy products or even water.

Students in the program such as McCallum, study the human genetic makeup and how simple nutrients can help fight diseases like Diabetes and AIDS, as well as the importance of being able to determine what new food products companies are bringing to grocery store shelves.

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The students--who come from Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, NWT and Nunavut--were placed in science labs at the University of Toronto, the University of Guelph, the University of Manitoba, the University of British Columbia and the University of Saskatchewan.

At the University of Saskatchewan's Food Sciences Department, McCallum worked under the direction of scientists, Michael Nickerson of Agricultural Economics and Nicholas Low of Food and Bioproduct Sciences.

Nickerson leads studies and experiments into the history of diabetes in the Saskatchewan First Nations and the prevalence of this disease for people in the communities.

Focused on cutting-edge research in nutrition and genetics, McCallum took part in labs along with other students and professors conducting experiments on water, spinach, and the healing properties of honey.

"What we are really looking at is micro-organisms," said McCallum, "we did tests on pizza that was left out of the fridge and after 18 hours it had tons of different bacteria growing on it." Tests done on spinach also showed that the vegetable is naturally full of bacteria and often contains traces of e-coli.

McCallum was also part of a group who did a test on the surfaces of drinking fountains and she found herself a little disturbed by the outcome.

"It's really important to know that some things can make you really, really sick ... I am going to share my new knowledge of micro-organisms with my classmates and community," she said.

But she found that there are also good microorganisms in the foods that we eat, as she done tests and experiments being conducted on pro-biotics in foods. Findings revealed that people are not getting as much benefits from the foods that they eat as they might think. Such is the case when probiotics in yogurt are killed by the acids in our stomachs before they can do our bodies any good. McCallum found that studying these food processes was not only educational, but enjoyable.

"I really enjoyed the encapsulating experiments the most," said McCallum about the work being done to protect good micro-organisms so that our bodies will be able to absorb them. "Oh, and making gummy bears!"

To add to her experience, McCallum was invited by another student in the program to stay at her home rather than a hotel, which made her feel much more as though she were attending university. As with similar programs that are being fostered across Canada, the youth food researcher internship reaches out to high schools students to share the university and college experience. It is also meant to encourage the success of students, such as McCallum, in secondary education.

BY AMBER GILCHRIST

Sage Writer