PU5541: CLINICAL NUTRITION FOR DISEASE PREVENTION (2016-2017)

The overall aim of nutrition practice and research is to enable everyone to gain optimum health and well-being through good nutrition. This course aims to enable student to develop the fundamental understanding and application of evidence based health at an individual- and population-level.  You will develop skills in identifying and evaluating scientific evidence relevant to understanding the role of food and nutrients in health and disease.  As the field of applied health sciences continues to develop evidence at a rapid pace you will be taught the skills required access, interpret and evaluate the evidence base for the role of food and nutrition in preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health.

Both high and low income countries face a range of nutritional challenges including a social and economic context characterised by an ageing population (in the case of high income countries), increasing levels of household and individual level food insecurity, widening health inequalities in nutritional wellbeing and a high prevalence of obesity. Therefore this course aims to provide students with an opportunity to develop their understanding of:

• The social, economic and cultural determinants of nutrition-related health problems, and,
• Skills that will enable them to design, implement and evaluate nutrition policies and programmes aimed at addressing such problems.

This course will also examine how the disease process alters metabolism and leads to changes nutrient requirements and specific nutritional deficiencies in acute and chronic illness, for example obesity, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

This course also aims to help future nutrition practitioners and researchers develop the skills and insights necessary to advocate for better health through diet and nutrition, and the public and social policies that support better nutritional and health outcomes.

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

More Information about Week Numbers

Class test (30%); Online Debate (20%); Critical Appraisal of literature (50%).

Resit: 30 minute oral examination conducted via video conferencing / skype.

There are no assessments for this course.

Feedback on all assessments will be provided with 14 days of submission for all assignments and in many cases will be instantaneous. Feedback will come in various forms including detailed information about correct answers for quiz responses where students have been unsuccessful in providing the correct answer.  For more extensive pieces feedback will take the form of either written or audio recorded feedback and will always provide information on areas that the students needs to focus on to improve their understanding

• By the end of the course students should have a detailed understanding of the following:

  1. The importance of Nutrition in the maintenance of health and prevention of disease.
  2. The role of diet in disease incidence and metabolic links between them.
  3. The role of nutrition in metabolically compromised individuals.
  4. How nutrient-gene interactions affect health and disease
  5. Research tools widely used in clinical nutrition research.
  6. Food and nutrition and health policy (at global, national and local level)
  7. Significance of evaluation of nutrition in maintaining and driving public health agendas
  8. The inter-relationship between clinical nutrition and public health nutrition.
  9. Theories and application of methods of improving health, behaviour and change
  10. Theories of nutrition health education and nutrition health promotion
  11. Legal context of nutrition practice; including current UK legislation and guidelines to providing information to individuals
  12. Responsibilities and accountability in relation to the current European and National legislation, national guidelines, local policies and protocols and clinical/corporate Governance in relation to nutrition