LSC-20052 - Module Specification School of Life Sciences Faculty of Natural Sciences
For academic year: 2020/21 Last Updated: 25 February 2021
LSC-20052 - Nutrition and Energy Balance
Coordinator: Mirna M Maarabouni Room: Third Floor Roo Tel: +44 1782 7 33679
School Office: 01782 734414
Programme/Approved Electives for 2020/21
Available as a Free Standing Elective
Co-requisites
None
Prerequisites
None
Barred Combinations
None
Description for 2020/21
This module will focus on understanding the essential components of our diet and discuss the changes in nutrition and energy balance that the human body encounters through development from birth to adulthood. The module will address the need for the body to adapt nutrition to meet its energy requirements during sports and exercise. It will discuss the consequences of dietary imbalances on human health and how nutrition and diet can contribute to many Lifestyle disorders including obesity related disorders, coronary heart disease, glucose intolerance and diabetes. This module aims to provide an informed, research based understanding of nutrition, diet and energy balance on human health, by integrating aspects of physiology, biochemistry, food science and exercise physiology. This module will offer a number of laboratory based practical opportunities, including a visit to the Anatomy Suite at the Medical School to learn about the digestive system and also an Exercise Physiology practical to understand energy requirements during exercise. In addition, the lectures in this module will be complemented with guest lectures to highlight our current thinking in human nutrition and health. Ethical issues that concern diet and nutrition will be discussed in tutorials.
The study of human nutrition was once focused on understanding the essential components of our diet and the consequences of dietary deficiencies on human health. It is now recognised that in western societies at least, dietary excesses contribute to a clutch of inter-related disorders known as the metabolic syndrome which include obesity related disorders, coronary heart disease, glucose intolerance and diabetes. The recognition that imbalances in our diet can be a contributory factor in these disorders as well as other diseases such as breast cancer is leading to improved public understanding of the interrelationship between diet and health, and a popular move towards healthy eating. This module aims to provide an informed, research based understanding of nutrition, diet and energy balance on human health, by integrating aspects of physiology, biochemistry, food science and exercise physiology.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Identify the principal components of a balanced diet and how they are digested, absorbed and metabolised in a healthy adult with reference to underlying research and dietary principles: 1,3Discuss current concepts of how nutritional requirements of humans differ with age: 1Describe how energy balance can be adjusted through dietary formulations and exercise and the limits of such adjustments: 1With reference to current knowledge and its potential limitations, explain the physiological adaptations that occur during prolonged physical exercise (training) and the special nutritional requirements that might improve athletic performance: 1,3Analyse an ethical issue associated with diet and nutrition: 2Explain the concept of energy balance and identify the links between the regulation of food intake, energy imbalance and disease within an individual and within populations: 1
Study hours
Lectures: 21Laboratory practicals: 15Tutorials: 5Examination: 8Private study: 101
School Rules
None
Description of Module Assessment