By Janet Wetzel
Enquirer contributor

Ruth Rosevear specializes in nutrition and rats.

She enjoys taming and raising the rats, but Rosevear, a licensed dietitian who will be 90 in December, is not doing it for fun. The rats are part of her decades-long effort to teach people the importance of good nutrition.

The petite Clifton woman always has a pair of rats, and they're always named Goodie and Junkie. Her husband, Francis, drives her to schools and health fairs where she shows the rats and tells how Goodie thrives on healthy food, while Junkie's junk food diet makes him a sickly shadow of his roommate.

"I raise them from babies, giving Goodie all the four food groups, while Junkie gets white flour food and sugary foods,'' said Rosevear. "The Goodies always grow bigger, with better fur, muscles and bones. Junkies have ratty fur, they're restless and not at all healthy.''

After 12 weeks the Junkies get good food so they won't die, then are given away as pets. Her rat experiments have been going since 1979 when she did one for a health fair. She's on her 108th pair.

Rosevear, who retired from her dietitian job at Mount Auburn Health Center in 1984 and is now a nutrition consultant, does all this on her own time and at her own expense. Her goal is to prevent birth defects and help people get and stay healthy.

For nearly 25 years, she's written the weekly Nutrition Gazette for her Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church. She published a book in 2000 called, Nutrition in Biblical Times.

She travels the world studying nutrition. In 2002 she spent 10 days in Copper Canyon, Mexico, studying an Indian tribe known for its excellent diet and health.

Rosevear's quest for nutritional knowledge began as a young mother. After being frail and sickly, she adopted a new diet, focusing on whole grains, plenty of protein, fruits and vegetables.

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E-mail Janet Wetzel at jjwetzel@siscom.net or fax to 513-755-4150.