Human Nutrition MSc

1. Nutrients, including water and alcohol

• Essential nutrients
• Conditionally essential nutrients
• Dispensable (non-essential) nutrients
• Beneficial non-nutrients

2. Reference values: their sources, uses and limitations

• Dietary reference values
• Safe Upper Levels

3. Food sources:

• Of nutrients
• Of other constituents of food
• Toxins
• Anti-nutrients

4. How food production, supply, and  preparation can determine chemical composition and content of dietary nutrients and other constituents

5. Digestion and absorption of nutrients

• Metabolic fate of nutrients / end products of nutrient metabolism
• Biological effects of inert ingesta

6. Role of diet, nutrition and foods across the lifespan

7. Key functions of the body

• Control of food intake
• Bioavailability of nutrients
• Energy balance and nutrient balance
• Nutrient turnover and storage
• Homeostasis and homeorrhesis
• Adaptation and its limits
• Diet and immunity

The aim of this module is to equip students with an in-depth knowledge of the fundamentals of nutrition, and to evaluate critically, arguments, assumptions, concepts and research data in the field.

1.       Metabolic overview: metabolic requirements of tissues - liver, muscle, heart and brain; bioenergetics and energy transduction in cells; role of creatine phosphate; energy sources and pathways

2.       Carbohydrate metabolism – glucose and glycogen; glycolysis, glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis; TCA cycle; substrate and oxidative phosphorylation

3.       Dietary lipids – saturated, unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats; essential fatty acids; cholesterol.  Lipid metabolism – triglyceride and ketone body metabolism; phospholipid and cholesterol; adipose tissue metabolism; lipoproteins –role and turnover; lipids and health.

4.      Protein metabolism – amino acid catabolism and waste nitrogen; nutrition and protein metabolism; regulation systems. 

5.      Enzymatic and hormonal control of metabolic pathways

6.      Exercise/sports metabolism

To review and develop critical understanding of those elements of physiology and biochemistry which provide the theoretical basis of human metabolism.

1.      Emerging concerns in nutrition and health

2.      Dietary factors in the aetiology and prevention of chronic diseases (eg. cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes).

3.      Nutritional epidemiology and public health.

4.      Nutrition needs of different groups, including eating behaviour and food choice.

5.      Role of scientific advisory committees and regulatory agencies.

6.      Healthy eating recommendations for the general public.

7.      Gene-nutrient interactions in health and disease.

1.      To provide students with an understanding of the nature of the diet and its relationship to the health and disease of different groups within the population.

2.      To ensure that students have an understanding of nutritional epidemiology and of the scientific basis for current nutrition guidelines.

3.      To provide students with an introduction to the policies which affect nutrition, food choice and related matters.

1. Dietary Assessment

• Obtaining and interpreting dietary information to assess nutritional/health status
• Obtaining and interpreting information about the interaction of diet, health and disease
• Use of dietary analysis software
• Biochemical assessment of nutritional status

2. Nutritional anthropometry. Uses and limitations of:

• Weight
• Height and Proxy measures for height
  etc.
• Indices e.g. Body Mass Index (BMI)
• Circumferences e.g. mid-upper arm circumference
  (MUAC)
• Estimation of muscle
• Skinfolds and the assessment of body fat
• Screening tools using anthropometry e.g. Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool
  (MUST)

This module aims to develop skills in nutritional and anthropometric assessment. Students will learn to assess a client’s nutritional needs and preferences using appropriate methods that are based on research evidence, best practice standards, guidelines and protocols.

1.      The building blocks of scientific research: types of research (analytical, descriptive, experimental, and qualitative), scientific parlance (hypothesis, concepts, operational definitions, and dependent/independent variables), sampling procedures, and measurement issues (reliability and validity).

2.      Research and data collection methods: experimental research (developing hypotheses, independent/dependent variables, controls, sample selection, study designs, and experimental validity); descriptive research (questionnaires and interviews, case studies); qualitative research (characteristics, procedures, methods of data collection, data analysis, and internal/external validity).

3.      The nature of research; scientific methods of enquiry, pure versus applied ways of problem solving. Developing the research problem; identifying a topic area, devising specific questions, discovering what is already known (reviewing the literature), determining feasible ways to answer the questions.

4.      Ethics in research.

5.      Introduction to data analysis software (SPSS for Windows). Establishing an SPSS database. Defining and transforming variables; data storage and retrieval.

6.      Data analysis for descriptive and experimental research; descriptive statistics. Describing data; measures of variability, correlation and scatter plots. inferential statistics. Selecting an appropriate statistical test (parametric or non-parametric), and types of statistical tests (chi-square; t-tests; one-way ANOVA & post-hoc tests; Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney U). Worked examples in SPSS. Repeated Measures ANOVA; Factorial ANOVA, Limits of agreement analysis for method comparison and test retest reliability. Worked examples in SPSS.

1.      To expose students to the essential elements in the process of conducting sound scientific research.

2.      To develop students’ skills in the key aspects of data handling and statistical analysis.

The research will be agreed with an appropriate supervisor and the Research Co-ordinator.  The subject matter must be related to the field of nutrition.

1.      To provide the student with an opportunity to investigate systematically and in depth a topic of direct relevance to the programme of study and his/her personal interests.

2.      To enable the student to draw on and contribute to the development of the growing body of knowledge in the field of nutrition.

3.     To require the student to present a research proposal in the form of a poster and oral presentation.

4.     To require the student to present the outcomes of personal research in the form of a substantive research article.

Public Health promotion and policy is a dynamic, multidisciplinary area that is receiving increased attention in government and the media. In this module emphasis is placed on the importance of gaining a critical appreciation of current developments in public health and nutrition policy, and the contributions of research and evaluation in guiding the development of health promotion and public health practice. Opportunities are also provided for participants to examine, reflect upon and develop their theoretical knowledge and practice in relation to current health promotion and public health initiatives, strategies and developments.

• Public Health, Health surveillance, health policy and health improvement – goals and practice
• Overview of national and European food policies in the context of GATT and the WTO; Parallel aspects of food, social, environment and transport policy
• Overview of roles and legal context of national and European nutrition policies and action plans; Policy and strategy development and implementation
• Theory and practice of policy planning, within an international context, including the nature and significance of goals and targets
• Determinants of health
• Inequalities in health and disease – including links to food sustainability
• Definition, theories and models of health promotion: health beliefs, behaviour change, social marketing, empowerment, education
• Evaluation of health promotion practice

The module aims to provide the student with: 

1. A knowledge and systematic understanding of public food, nutrition and health policy, including the international influences on public policy formation in national governments, with implications for practice
2. Understanding of the re-orientation of public health services, current frameworks, standards and outcome measures in order to enable them to evaluate these 
3. Critically assess implications of policy on health promotion and maintenance at a community level
4. Understand the different approaches to health promotion and application of these in relation to nutrition interventions
5. To enhance understanding of health promotion theory and develop and evaluation practice in health promotion
6. Understand social marketing, market segmentation and how to apply this into practice in support of health promotion