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Principles of Public Health Nutrition I

Module description

This module introduces you to the basic concepts and principles of human nutrition science that underpin the theory and practice of public health nutrition. You will explore the role of macro and micronutrients in maintaining health, and their effects when consumed in excess or when deficient, through the appraisal of scientific information relating to their structure, function, sources and bioavailability. This module emphasises the skills required to develop a critical understanding of the scientific basis of nutritional requirements, factors that influence them, and how they are applied to populations throughout the lifecycle.

Module aims - intentions of the module

By the end of this module, you will be able to apply fundamental human nutrition concepts and principles in the context of health and throughout the life cycle.

You will be able to understand factors that affect our ability to digest and absorb nutrients, and how nutrient demands change throughout the life cycle.

You will develop nutrition skills that will allow you to extract nutrients from different food sources.

You will understand factors that affect our ability to digest and absorb nutrients to start developing nutrition interventions and/strategies for health.

You will have extensive knowledge on how dietary guidelines and public health agendas are informed and shaped.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Describe main features of digestion, absorption, and utilisation of nutrients, and how these relate to bodily functions
• 2. Explain nutritional requirements through the life cycle, including the consequences of nutrient deficiency in specific life stages
• 3. Critically appraise nutrition science evidence

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Explain dietary reference values and nutrition requirements.
• 5. Describe different methods for individual vs population dietary intake assessment.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Synthesise complex information into simple and accurate information

Syllabus plan

• Review of nutrition science concepts, focusing on food groups and sources of macro- and micro-nutrients.
• Principles of nutrient digestion, absorption, and utilisation.
• Nutrient intake references, and consequences of deficiencies/excess intake
• Nutrition through the life cycle and the role of nutrition in both prevention and treatment of disease.
• Assessment of diet intake and dietary collection methods.
• Evidence appraisal in nutrition science and dietary guidelines development (study designs, hierarchy of evidence, risk of bias).

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will need to complete further assessment as required. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Brown, J. (2018) Nutrition Throughout the life cycle. Wadsworth Publishing 
• Department of Health (1991) Report on Health and Social Subjects. Report 41 Dietary Reference Values for food and energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom. Report of the Panel on Dietary Reference values of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
• The Nutrition Society https://www.nutritionsociety.org/
• British Nutrition Foundation https://www.nutrition.org.uk/
• Dietary assessment primer https://dietassessmentprimer.cancer.gov/
• Eatwell guide https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-eatwell-guide
• SACN: reports and position statements https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sacn-reports-and-position-statements
• European Food Safety Authority http://www.efsa.europa.eu/ 

Key words search

Nutrition science, macronutrients, micronutrients, evidence-based nutrition, dietary guidelines