Course Information Document
BIOL4036
Welcome to the final year of your programme. One of the
aims of the final year is to prepare you for the years ahead. The teaching will
be structured differently, and you will be encouraged to work independently. We
expect you to develop a breadth to your thinking and writing. This is the time
to bring together knowledge gained during the past three years, looking for
general principles which can be used productively. This mature approach should
be expressed in your coursework, project report and examination answers. The
key to success in final year is good time-management.
We recommend that you read this Course Information Document at the start of your final year.
In addition, there is important information about regulations, assessment and progression in the Life Sciences Handbook: Regulations & Advice; again, you should read this document at the start of the year and you must refer to it as necessary.
Please keep this Course Information Document for future reference after you graduate; you may need to provide course details for further study or other training.
While the information contained in the document is correct at the time of printing, it may be necessary to make changes. Check your online timetable, Moodle and your email messages regularly.
Course Coordinator: Dr Alison Parrett
Email: Alison.Parrett@glasgow.ac.uk
Deputy Coordinator: Dr Ada Garcia
Email: Ada.Garcia@glasgow.ac.uk
Dr Dalia Malkova
Email: Dalia.Malkova@glasgow.ac.uk
|
Name |
School |
Email address |
|
Dr Alison Parrett |
School of Medicine |
Alison.parrett@glasgow.ac.uk |
|
Dr Ada Garcia |
School of Medicine |
Ada.garcia@glasgow.ac.uk |
|
Dr James Dorling |
School of Medicine |
|
|
Professor Christine Edwards |
School of Medicine |
|
|
Dr Athanasios Koutsos |
School of Medicine |
Dr
University
Email:
The Life Sciences Office is located in Room 354 of the Sir
James Black Building. Opening hours for enquiries are: Monday to Friday: 9:30am
to 4:30pm.
Course Code
BIOL4036
Course Title
Nutrition in health and disease prevention
Academic Session
Short Description of the Course
Students will learn how to interpret nutritional
epidemiology studies by looking in detail at the latest research papers to
examine the relationships between diet and chronic diseases such as heart
disease, diabetes and cancer.
Requirements of Entry
Normally, only available to final-year Life Sciences
students in a Human Biology & Nutrition or Physiology Sports Science &
Nutrition programme. Visiting students may be allowed to enrol, at the
discretion of the Life Sciences Chief Adviser and the Course
Coordinator.
Associated Programmes
This course is offered by the Human Biology &
Nutrition programme. It is a compulsory course for Honours programmes in Human
Biology & Nutrition and in Physiology Sport Science &
Nutrition.
Available to visiting students
Yes
Available to Erasmus students
Yes
Typically offered
Semester 1
Timetable
There are normally two 90-minutes sessions on
Fridays.
Course Aims
This course aims to train students in using scientific
evidence to understand the role of nutrition in chronic disease prevention and
health.
Intended Learning Outcomes of course
By the end of this course, students will be able
to:
Define and critically evaluate relevant concepts and
basic methods used in nutritional epidemiology;
Critically discuss the role of diet on the epidemiology
of major chronic diseases;
Discuss strategies for nutrition promotion;
Use scientific evidence to communicate nutrition
information related to health aimed at the general public.
Minimum Requirements for Award of Credits
Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the
components (including examinations) of the course’s summative
assessment.
Description of Summative Assessment
The course
will be assessed by a portfolio of epidemiological evidence for the
associations between diet and chronic disease (60%), a 1-hour data handling/interpretation examination
(30%), and a poster or infographic presentation (10%).
Are reassessment opportunities normally available for
all summative assessments in this course
Not applicable for Honours courses
Formative Assessment and Feedback
Students will be provided with a formative feedback
session on their portfolio. They will also receive oral feedback on their
understanding of the subject during seminars and tutorials.
Examination Diet
April/May
Total Exam Duration
60 minutes
Session 1: Nutritional epidemiology concepts and
methods & Diet and Chronic Disease Introduction
Dr Ada Garcia
Synopsis
The concept of epidemiology and its importance to
understand scientific evidence of the role of diet in disease prevention will
be introduced. The basic methods used in epidemiological nutrition research
will be introduced and discussed. The concept of hierarchy of evidence will be
introduced. Strengths and limitations of each study will be discussed. The
concept of cause and effect in the context of diet and disease will be
discussed.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able
to:
Define and discuss the basic methods used in
nutritional epidemiology.
Understand the limitations of study designs used in
nutritional epidemiology.
Identify differences between causality and
association in relation to diet and disease.
The instructions for assessed course work will be
explained (Portfolio)
Session 2: Coursework Instructions (Portfolio) &
Diet and Obesity
Dr Ada
Garcia and Dr James Dorling
Synopsis
An overview of current evidence linking diet and
disease and the role of diet as a risk factor for obesity as well as evidence
on diet and obesity prevention will be discussed.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able
to:
Describe associations between diet and major chronic
disease using epidemiological evidence. Understand the instructions for
assessed course work.
Summarise scientific evidence on the role of diet on
obesity cause and prevention.
Session 3: Overview of Nutrition Promotion &
Dietary Pattern concept (use of evidence tables)
Dr Ada Garcia
Synopsis
In this session, the concepts of Nutrition Promotion
and Dietary Patterns will be introduced. Students will be shown how to
structure evidence tables using different epidemiological study designs with
the aim to summarise literature on the associations between dietary patterns
and major chronic diseases.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able
to:
Understand what is nutrition promotion and discuss
its uses in public health.
Discuss the concept of dietary pattern and how these
are linked to health.
Session 4: Diet and CVD
Dr Athanasios Koutsos
Synopsis
The epidemiological evidence linking diet, in
particular dietary fats and CVD prevention will be discussed.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able
to:
Discuss key mechanisms linking diet with CVD and
interpret epidemiological evidence for the role of diet on CVD prevention.
Session
5: Portfolio individual tutorials
Dr Ada
Garcia
Synopsis
Students will be given individual appointments for
feedback on portfolio.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able
to:
Have a clear plan of portfolio structure and
evidence table organisation.
Session 6: Diet and chronic disease: Cancer
Prof Christine Edwards
Synopsis
The current evidence of the role of diet in cancer
will be discussed. The epidemiological approaches used to generate evidence for
recommendations in relation to cancer prevention will be presented and
critically discussed.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able
to:
Discuss the importance, methods used and limitations
of using nutritional epidemiology to provide evidence for public health
recommendations for diet and cancer prevention.
Session 7: Communicating Nutrition Science to the
public
Dr Ada Garcia & Dr Alison Parrett
Synopsis
Students will be assigned a popular topic of
interest or a specific nutrient/food group, they will investigate the
scientific evidence to explain the state of art in the topic and will prepare a
series of infographics/slides to communicate their findings to the
general public e.g. do protein supplements work for muscle building, are
vitamin and minerals effective on protecting against disease. The
posters/infographics will be discussed during class and will inform coursework
assessment.
Session 8: Portfolio coursework protected time
This is protected time for coursework.
Session 9: Poster/Infographic presentations,
summative coursework
Dr Alison Parrett & Dr Ada Garcia
Synopsis
This is summative coursework, students will present
individually their posters/infographics in front of the class.
Session 10: Data Handling and Interpretation – Exam
preparation
Dr Alison Parrett &
Dr Ada Garcia
Synopsis
Describing and discussing scientific evidence on
diet and nutritional epidemiology using a critical approach is a key learning
objective of this course. In this session students are presented with examples
of previous exam questions to get familiar with the summative assessment
format. Using an interactive session, we will solve exam questions and clarify
queries regarding the process.
Aims
At the end of this session, you should be able
to:
Be familiar with the format of data handling and
interpretation used for exam questions.