With Mayo Clinic nutritionists Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.

Mayo has a wonderful 3-day Health Sciences Summer Camp that exposes middle school kids to health-related careers — sort of a crash course on what doctors, nurses, geneticists, veterinarians, dietitians, radiologists actually do. Instructors are asked to engage students with interactive — don't just stand there and talk — presentations. The vet, for example, brought a cat, and let the students assist in an examination. This year our dietetic interns helped out and I thought I'd share my observations.

The gist of the interns' presentation was that dietitians assess peoples' nutrient needs, then help shape food choices into meals that treat or prevent disease. And that nutrition careers include health care, teaching, developing new food products, writing articles, research, and ensuring that our food supply is safe and healthy.

The interns then asked the kids: Does anyone in your family have diabetes? Heart disease? High blood pressure? Cancer? The number of hands raised was stunning. There were 25 students in the class and, sadly, every hand was raised!

The students were remarkably open: "My mom has had her stomach stapled and she can only eat so much." "My grandpa has cancer and he doesn't seem to want to eat." "My sister is fat and gets teased." "Dad has diabetes and high blood pressure — he can't eat sugar or salt." I could also tell that these kids were really worried about their families, and they understood these medical conditions were not something that just happens when you get older.

The class was divided into three groups of student "dietitians." One group planned a day's meals to be low in salt for blood pressure control. The other two groups used food labels to determine how many teaspoons of fat or sugar was contained in various foods — and what would be a healthier choice.

It was clear that nutrition education is alive and well in the schools. These kids made planning low-salt meals and calculating fat and sugar amounts look easy. (You can try it, too, with the directions below.) I could tell their worksheets would be taken home to share with their families. The kids saw the connection between food and health and the interns did a great job. Both made me proud!

I'm optimistic that these students will be showing and teaching us some healthy lessons about food and diet. Nothing is more motivating than learning from our "youngers." Thoughts? Share what the younger generation has taught you.

P. S. Here's how to calculate the number of teaspoons of sugar or fat in a serving of food. Check the food label, then:

• Divide the grams of sugar listed by 4 to get the number of teaspoons sugar.
• Divide the grams of fat listed by 5 to get the number of teaspoons fat.

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