LSC-20052 - Module Specification
School of Life Sciences
Faculty of Natural Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

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.
Indicative Contents
This module is taught through a combination of lectures and laboratory sessions as well as tutorials and private study, combined with on line support and readings from relevant text books.
Lectures:
Nutrition and energy balance; energy and organic macromolecules (fats, carbohydrates and proteins); absorption and functions of vitamins and minerals; alcohol; regulation of food intake: Hunger and satiety; positive energy balance and obesity; the role of nutrition in the development and management of cardiovascular diseases; nutrition and cancer; sport nutrition; nutrition and the human life course and nutrition in mental health.
Practicals:
Physiology of digestive tract; food digestion; calculating energy balances; estimating body composition; a critical appraisal of weight management strategies.
Tutorial:
Ethical argument and discussion

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
Discuss current concepts of how nutritional requirements of humans differ with age: 1
Describe how energy balance can be adjusted through dietary formulations and exercise and the limits of such adjustments: 1,3
With 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: 1,3
Analyse an ethical issue associated with diet and nutrition: 2
Explain 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

11x 1 hour supporting workshops/tutorials
1x 3 hour tutorial related to the ethics essay assessment
11x 5 hours engagement with asynchronous content
2 hours online tasks
36 hours completion of coursework
43 Hours Independent study

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment