Course syllabus
Course-PM
KLI042 KLI042 Nutrition, health, and sustainable diets lp4 VT23 (7.5 hp)
The course is offered by the Department of Biology and Biological Engineering
Contact details
Examiner:
Malin Barman, malin.barman@chalmers.se
Lecturers:
Malin Barman, malin.barman@chalmers.se
Rikard Landberg, rikard.landberg@chalmers.se
Marie Alminger, marie.alminger@chalmers.se
Mia Stråvik, mia.stravik@chalmers.se
Therese Hjort, therese.hjorth@chalmers.se
Cecilia Mayer Labba, cecilia.mayer.labba@chalmers.se
Helene Lindqvist, helen.lindqvist@gu.se
Robert Caesar, Robert.Caesar@wlab.gu.se
Susanne Bryngelsson, susanne.bryngelsson@ri.se
Clemens Wittenbecher, clemens.wittenbecher@chalmers.se
Laboratory supervisors:
Therese Hjort, therese.hjorth@chalmers.se
Mar Vall-Llosera Juanola, marv@chalmers.se
Cecilia Martinez Escobar escobedo@chalmers.se
Study nurse:
Karin Larsson, karin.larsson@chalmers.se
Course purpose
The course aims to introduce students to nutrition and its role in health. The purpose is also to provide an overview of how diets – the type, combination, and quantity of foods consumed – can contribute to a sustainable food future.
Schedule
Course literature
Textbook : Introduction to Human Nutrition. Eds. Gibney, Lanham-New, Cassidy, and Vorster. The nutrition Society. Blackwell Science, 2009. ISBN 978-4051-6807-6.
A selection of scientific publications and literature with relevant and current literature within nutrition, health, and sustainability issues will also be available during the course.
Learning outcomes (after completion of the course, the student should be able to):
- Provide an overall description of the global health problems that can be linked to dietary intake
- Be able to critically review claims regarding the connection between diet and specific diseases
- Summarize the most important evidence-based nutritional recommendations and know-how dietary advice and nutritional recommendations are created.
- Know how the composition of food and our intake of protein, fat, and carbohydrates can affect health and know which food sources different nutrients come from
- Know what are characteristic of vitamins and their importance for disease prevention
- Give examples of essential minerals and trace elements and their importance for disease prevention.
- Describe mechanical and chemical aspects of digestion and uptake of nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract and know what influences the uptake of various nutrients
- Describe and discuss issues concerning sustainable food consumption linked to health effects of specific foods - such as health effects of animal and plant-based raw materials
- Describe the connection between climate and environmental change, food security, and sustainability from a global perspective
- Give examples of how nutritional status/dietary intake can be measured and assessed, and know the pros and cons for each method.
Content
- Food and health from a global perspective
- Nutritional recommendations
- Registration of nutritional intake
- Measurement of nutritional status
- Individualized nutrition advice personalized nutrition
- Nutritional uptake in the gastrointestinal tract
- Function, digestion, and metabolism of proteins and amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, and dietary fiber
- Fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins, minerals, and trace elements
- Diet and intestinal flora
- Health claims
- Interactions between diet, health, and the environment
- Environment, climate, and food supply
Course organization:
The course contains lectures, laboratory work, seminars, group works, online quizzes, and assignments on Canvas. The lectures will mostly be live on campus, but some lectures will be online over zoom (e.g., for invited speakers from other Universities), and we will also use Flipped Classroom for some of the lecture content.
Compulsory parts:
1. Dietary assessment/computer lab and evaluation of a meal: Each student will perform an individual dietary assessment to estimate their nutritional status during the course. Also, in groups you will evaluate a meal in terms of nutritional profile (macro- and micronutrients), environmental aspects and ethical considerations.
2. Laboratory work: Chemical analysis of your own nutritional status.
3. Scientific review of a health claim from social media: Critical review of a health claim linked to food from social media or similar and critical review of a scientific article in the same subject. The students will present the work both in writing and orally.
Course summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|