Time Schedule:
Michelle M. Averill
NUTR 411
Seattle Campus
Discusses advanced topics in nutritional sciences. Includes nutrition and health, chronic disease prevention and management, and in depth discussion of dietary patters. Draws on current topics in the media, impacts of public health policy on diet, and the most recent nutrition research. Prerequisite: NUTR 300.
Class description
The course will focus on the American diet and its relation to obesity and chronic disease risk. The class will explore which foods, nutrients, or dietary ingredients promote health and well?]being or predispose to chronic illness and weight gain. The role of specific dietary components as well as different dietary patterns will be considered. The class will use the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans as examples of how government agencies and expert panels translate evidence?]based nutrition into dietary advice for individuals and groups. The course will discuss the implications of research on diet and chronic disease for individual nutrition and public health practice.
Student learning goals
Identify the basic components of a diet including: -The role of macro- and micronutrients in the context of the whole diet -Differences in common dietary patterns (e.g. typical American diet, vegetarian, Mediterranean)
Discuss the following questions: -What is a healthy diet? -How do dietary patterns relate to obesity and chronic disease? -What are our barriers to eating a healthy lifestyle?
Review the evidence supporting a specific nutrition topic or dietary guideline for health professionals and lay audiences.
General method of instruction
In this class student learning occurs in small group discussions that focus on the current literature and problems encountered in determining best practices based on the level of evidence. There is also a mix of lectures, readings, web discussions and class presentations with consensus decisions to present and consider the topics.
Recommended preparation
Have taken Nutrition 300 or equivelent general nutrition course
Class assignments and grading
This class will incldue online and in class discussions (30%), short 1 page papers (30%), and a final consumer information project (40%).
The GPA will be calculated using the following conversions: >96.9% =4.0 GPA 85% =3.0 GPA 75% =2.0 GPA 60% =0.7 GPA <60% =0 GPA
