Postgraduate Course: Foundations of Nutritional Epidemiology (VESC11264)
Course Outline
| School | Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course explores the key aspects of the dietary and nutritional causes of disease at the population level, and the methods used to assess said causes. |
| Course description |
An examination of the aetiologies and prevention of diet-related health problems at the population-level. Diet and nutritional status are key contributing factors for the short- and long-term development of disease, including chronic disease, non-communicable disease, and infectious disease. Students will learn nutrition and diet measurement, epidemiologic methods, explore data and interpret statistics, and understand the scientific literature about the connections between diet, nutrition, and health. Key topics include nutrition and diet assessment, measurement error, individual and population variability in food intake, energy intake adjustment, and study design and interpretation. Students will gain an understanding of how findings from nutritional epidemiology are relevant to health and social care.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2023/24, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Block 4 (Sem 2) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Online Activities 20,
Formative Assessment Hours 20,
Summative Assessment Hours 18,
Other Study Hours 18,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
0 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
Other study- reading and self-directed learning
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
A research proposal (a written structured paper) is the summative assessment for this course.
This research proposal will be developed in five stages throughout the five course weeks using formative assessments, which may include (1) dietary factor analysis, (2) outcome analysis, (3) assessment method, (4) limitations analysis, and (5) comparison with a similar research study
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| Feedback |
Students will receive written qualitative feedback on each part of the research proposal for the formative assignments, as well as qualitative feedback and quantitative feedback from a rubric for the final research proposal. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will gain a critical understanding of the principal theories, tools, and concepts of nutritional epidemiology (SCQF 11.1).
- Students will critically review and consolidate knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in nutritional epidemiology (SCQF 11.3).
- Students will undertake critical evaluations of a wide range of numerical and graphical data related to diet, nutritional status, and health (SCQF 11.4)
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Reading List
Alpers, D.H., Bier, D.M., Carpenter, K.J., McCormick, D.B., Miller, A.B. and Jacques, P.F., 2014. History and impact of nutritional epidemiology. Advances in Nutrition, 5(5), pp.534-536.
Boeing, H., 2013. Nutritional epidemiology: New perspectives for understanding the diet-disease relationship? European journal of Clinical Nutrition, 67(5), pp.424-429.
Selections from Willett, Walter. Nutritional Epidemiology, Third Edition, which will be available through the library.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will have the opportunity to develop particularly the following Graduate Attributes and Skills: Under research and enquiry: Problem solving, analytical thinking, critical thinking, handling ambiguity and complexity, numeracy; Under personal and intellectual autonomy: ethics and social responsibility, decision making; Under communication: Verbal communication and presentation, written communication, and influencing and negotiation skills. |
| Keywords | Nutrition,food,diet,health,disease,weight,height,diet quality,obesity,overweight,cancer |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sarah Frank
Tel:
Email: sfrank3@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Gordon Littlejohn
Tel: (0131 6)51 7454
Email: Gordon.Littlejohn@ed.ac.uk |
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