Human Nutrition 1

What is Good Food?

This course is your first step toward a serious understanding of human nutrition.

• It provides complimentary skills for people involved with food and health across a wide range of vocations (Health or fitness professionals through to chef's and health food shop sales staff).
• It provides a starting point for persons wanting to work more specifically in the field of nutrition (Note: To work as a nutritionist or prescribe food supplements in most developed countries will require you to do far more study than the 100 hrs in this course)
• It provides the concerned individual with the knowledge needed to better manage their own diet, and that of those around them.

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Nutrition
2. The Digestive System
3. Absorption & Enzymes
4. Energy Value and Foods
5. Carbohydrates and Fats
6. Proteins
7. Vitamins and Minerals
8. Water
9. Nutrient Disorders

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Explain the role of different food types in human health.
• Explain the physiology of digestive processes.
• Recommend appropriate intake of vitamins.
• Recommend appropriate intake of minerals.
• Recommend appropriate food intake to meet an individual's energy needs.
• Recommend appropriate carbohydrate intake.
• Recommend appropriate fat intake.
• Recommend appropriate protein intake.
• Recommend appropriate water intake in different situations.
• Recognise signs and symptoms of the major nutrient disorders.

What You Will Do

• Distinguish between nutrition terms including: food, nutrition and diet.
• Distinguish between characteristics of all major food groups, including;
  • chemistry and foods which are a good source.
• Explain the significance of each of the major food groups, including:
  • Carbohydrates
  • Proteins
  • Fats
  • Minerals
  • Vitamins.
• Label on unlabelled illustrations, parts of the digestive system, including:
  • Oesophagus
  • Liver
  • Stomach
  • Gall bladder
  • Pancreas
  • Duodenum
  • Ascending colon
  • Caecum
  • Appendix
  • Transverse colon
  • Descending colon
  • Ileum
  • Sigmoid colon
  • Rectum.
• Explain the function of different parts of the digestive system, including:
  • Salivary Glands
  • Liver
  • Stomach
  • Gall bladder
  • Pancreas
  • Duodenum
  • Colon
  • Ileum
  • Rectum.
• Distinguish between digestion and absorption of food.
• Explain the different layers of the digestive tract, including:
  • Mucosa
  • Submucosa
  • Muscularis
  • Serosa.
• Explain different physiological processes involved in absorption
• Explain how different hormones control the digestive process, including:
  • Gastrin
  • *Gastric Inhibitory Peptide
  • Secretin
  • Cholecystokinin.
• Explain the action of different digestive enzymes.
• Convert calories to joules.
• Explain the meaning of basal metabolic rate (BMR).
• Describe how the intake of different types of food may affect metabolic rate.
• Explain how different factors other than food intake can affect digestion, including stress and disease.
• Compare energy values of different foods, on a given food chart.
• Explain possible implications of mismatching food intake to individual's energy needs, through over or under intake of energy requirements.
• List foods which are a common sources of carbohydrate.
• List common foods in your own diet which are poor sources of carbohydrate.
• Distinguish between monosaccharides and disaccharides in your own normal diet.
• Explain relative values of alternative sources of carbohydrates.
• Explain factors which affect the bodies demand for carbohydrate.
• Develop guidelines to determining appropriate carbohydrate intake, in accordance with an individuals specific requirements.
• List foods which are a common source of fats.
• Distinguish between saturated and unsaturated fats in the diet of a specific person.
• Explain the relative value of alternative sources of fats.
• Explain factors which affect the bodies demand for fat.
• Explain the role of fat in the body, including an explanation of different physiological processes involving fat.
• Develop a set of guidelines to determining appropriate fat intake, in accordance with an individuals specific requirements.
• List foods which are a good source of protein.
• Explain the role of protein in the body, including examples of different physiological processes involving protein.
• Explain relative values of different sources of protein.
• Explain factors which affect the bodies demand for protein.
• Develop guidelines to determining appropriate fat intake, in accordance with an individuals specific requirements.
• List different sources for each of several different minerals considered essential to human health.
• Explain the role of different minerals in the body.
• Consider the relative values of different sources of minerals in your own diet, to determine minerals which may be supplied in inappropriate quantities.
• Describe symptoms of different nutrient disorders including deficiencies and toxicities.
• Explain the use of different mineral supplements in a specified human diet.
• Distinguish between sources of different types of vitamins which are important to human health, including:
  • Retinol
  • Vitamin D
  • Vitamin E
  • Vitamin K
  • Ascorbic acid
  • Thiamine
  • Riboflavin
  • Nicotinamide
  • Pyridoxine
  • Pantothenic acid
  • Biotin
  • Cyanocobalamin
  • Folacin.
• Explain the role of different vitamins in the body.
• Explain the relative values of different sources of each of five vitamins.
• Explain proliferation of vitamin supplement usage in modern society.
• Describe symptoms of five different vitamin disorders including deficiencies and toxicities.
• Explain the role of water in the body, for different physiological processes.
• List factors which affect the bodies requirement for water.
• Compare different methods of purifying water, including different commercially available water purifiers.
• Explain the physiology of dehydration, at different levels.
• Discuss the affect of different water impurities on human health.
• Distinguish between the signs and symptoms of forty common problems associated with nutritional disorders, including:
  • deficiencies
  • sensitivities
  • diseases.
• Describe different techniques used by health practitioners for determining food/nutrition disorders.
• Explain the importance of obtaining a recommendation from a medical practitioner, when a nutritional disorder is suspected.
• Explain the significance of "second opinion", when diagnosing nutrient disorders.