Furthering Nutrition in Guatemala

Katherine Diéguez makes nutritional advances as she works with the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute in Guatemala.

Katherine Diéguez helps in growing fresh vegetables in a hydroponic medium.

Katherine Diéguez makes nutritional advances as she works with the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute in Guatemala. Diéguez has worked professionally as a nutritionist with the Benson Institute since 1999. Prior to 1999, she was a Benson Institute scholarship student attending the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Her pre-graduate work included nutritional evaluations within the three Guatemalan communities of Chancó, Corral de Piedra, and Salitrón. She also, at this time, completed nutritional manuals for illiterate community members and customized daily nutrient recommendations to better include foods available to rural Guatemalan communities. Diéguez also made lesson plans and taught community members how to better their health. Included in lesson plans were ways to preserve food by means of smoking, drying, jamming, and pickling.

Diéguez traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to present her research at the 12th annual Latin American Society of Nutrition Convention held in November of 2000. She was a chosen finalist for the Kellogg’s Award and received special mentions for her poster presenting nutritional comparisons between four Benson Institute beneficiary communities.

As an employee of the Benson Institute, Diéguez continues to make advancements towards better health for Guatemalans.