Jehovana is a 4th year nutrition student at Rafael Landivar University in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, in our scholarship program, about to begin working on her senior project.

She would like to show the effectiveness

of the Brewer’s Diet (high protein, high calorie, good quality salt) in preventing preeclampsia in pregnancy. She is required to have a sample size of 100 women. This project would span over the next year - finding women in their first trimester, to begin following the diet for the entirety of their second and third trimesters, in Colomba and likely the surrounding communitiea as well to reach the needed sample size.

Once a week, each woman would be provided with a box of protein rich foods (a carton of eggs, a whole chicken, ground beef, yogurt,

peanut butter), good quality salt, and a lesson on nutrition to help them both implement the diet and understand the why behind it. Each participant will be provided with a notebook for tracking their food consumption, and the

notebooks will be checked weekly to enaure

compliance.

We estimate the cost of each box being $40, for 28 weeks of pregnancy (weeks 13-40) which means the cost PER woman will be $1,120. If we did not provide the food, we are certain these woman would not be able to adhere to the dietery requirements on their own budget - many here are lucky if they eat meat once a week.

Guatemala has one of the highest rates of mothers and babies dying in childbirth for this very reason - malnutrition leads to complications in pregnancy and childbirth. We would like to take one small step towards preventing that, and hopefully provide the evidence so that woman have the knowledge needed to make the best choices they can during their pregnancies.

Jehovana needs $112,000 guaranteed in order to embark on this project - will you help her?