Zizi Yu
Connecticut
Amity Regional High School
Zizi Yu, 17, of Woodbridge, investigated whether early exposure to food allergens in the first three years of life help prevent the
development of food allergies for her medicine and health Intel Science Talent Search project. While existing health guidelines
recommend that exposure to food allergens should be avoided in early childhood, Zizi sought to prove the Hygiene Hypothesis, which says
exposure is necessary for effective immune systems. She collected data on 258 teenagers to determine whether there was a relationship
between food allergies and exposure to those allergens during infancy and early childhood. Her findings suggest that early exposure to
food allergens significantly decreased the likelihood of food allergies later in life. She has published her findings in the Internet
Journal of Epidemiology, and is the paper’s first author. At Amity Regional High School, Zizi is first in her class of 435,
serves as editor-in-chief of the newspaper and is president and founder of the Amity Leo Club, which provides community service to the
local VA hospital and area nursing homes. Born in China, Zizi speaks fluent Mandarin, is an award-winning violinist and enjoys figure
skating. Her parents are Cheng Fang Yu and Lan Xu.
|
