Food and the impact on Diabetes and Hypertension
Hi, my name is Suriyaa. I am a high school student in Michigan. I am interested in forensics, microbiology, environmental science, insects, genetics, and public health. My cause area is Forensic Environmental Biology. This means I study how clues from nature can help us understand health and environmental problems. I want to use science and service to protect both people and the planet.
My Mission
My mission is to show people that the environment affects our health.
Clean soil, clean water, native plants, and healthy insects all matter.
Through volunteering, research, and awareness, I want to help create cleaner and safer communities.
My Research
I wrote a research paper about chronic inflammation and neurodegeneration, under Dr.Jobin Varkey, Assistant Professor of University of Southern California.
Activities
Japanese Quiz Bowl
I studied Japanese and competed in quiz bowl tournaments during 9th, 10th, and 11th grade.
Science Olympiad
I competed in Science Olympiad in 11th grade. My events included entomology, remote sensing, and dynamic planet.
Work Experience
I worked at a store during summer break. I helped as a cashier, stocked shelves, cleaned, and handled store tasks.
Volunteering
I am building more volunteer work through park cleanups, food pantry service, and community projects.
Diabetes Research
My father and grandmother were diagnosed with Diabetes. My dad continued to eat fried banana chips since he was under the impression that fried food did not affect diabetes. Since fried banana chips did not have carbohydrates.
I researched on the internet and told him that this was not right and fried banana chips were not good for diabetes. He asked me to prove it. This started my journey into food and the impact of food intake on diabetes and hypertension.
I started to create a journal with the names of the foods and their glycemic index so that my grandma and dad could easily refer to it. I started with simple fruits vegetables and grains. Later I expanded to prepared food like whole wheat bread and cake and other varieties. My dad then said that he wanted this in an excel spreadsheet. I made an excel spreadsheet with the food items and and the glycemic index and other nutritional values.
I wanted to create a website that others can easily look up foods that they eat on a regular basis. My website should be able to make a recommendation based on the glycemic index and other nutritional values of the food and other dishes. This will allow the user to figure out if the food is good for them and their condition.
Most of the nutritional values comes from the University of Sydney, the USDA and other sources on the internet.