Thousands of us will be embarking on diets and detoxes following the Festive Season excesses - but how many of us make informed decisions about what we eat?
A free online course designed to demystify the complex messages we hear about diet, health and lifestyle, designed and delivered by the University of Aberdeen is open for online enrolment now and starts on January 18.
The Nutrition and Wellbeing course is known as a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which is hosted by FutureLearn and can be taken by anyone with access to a computer.
The video-based course is hosted by the University’s world-leading nutrition experts and aims to present the scientific basics of nutrition and an outline of current nutrition concepts and controversies.
When it was run for the first time last August, more than 30,000 people took part.
The course is split into four themes which will run over four weeks: The makings of a ‘healthy diet’; Why do we eat what we eat?; Food and disease; Nutrition, fads, myths and the plain truth.
The course is delivered by Dr Mavroeidi from the Institute of Medical Science and Dr Alex Johnstone from the University’s Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health – the UK’s longest-established Centre of Excellence for Nutrition research - whose work formed the basis of Marks & Spencer’s ‘Simply Fuller Longer’ food range.
Interested students are expected to put in up to six hours of study per week with the weeks made up of different activities based around the subject of study such as a video, article, discussion, test, quiz or assignment.
Dr Alex Johnstone will present a related, free public discussion entitled Fat Matters - myths and reality of obesity and weight loss, as part of the Café Scientifique series on January 20 at Waterstones on Union Bridge, Aberdeen.
FutureLearn was initiated by The Open University in December 2012. The website went live in September 2013 as social learning platform, connecting learners from all over the globe who learn by interacting with each other and with globally renowned academics.
FutureLearn has 76 partners from around the world. These include many of the best UK and international universities, as well as institutions with a huge archive of cultural and educational material, such as the British Council, the British Library, the British Museum, and the National Film and Television School.