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Healthy Nutrition

Course developer

Course abstract

The aim of the study course is to promote the use of a healthy lifestyle, including nutrition, as it is one of the state priorities. Students gain knowledge about nutrition and its role in ensuring the quality of life and health, understanding the nutritional needs of different age groups. Get acquainted with the latest nutrition trends, Latvian and world healthy diet recommendations and various diets, including therapeutic. Acquires skills to calculate the amount of energy and nutrients an individual needs per day in accordance with recommendations, to evaluate the effects of different diets on the body and health, to develop new food products by calculating nutrients and energy values for different population groups, taking into account their nutritional needs. Analyses and evaluates various sources of information on the provision of nutrients in food products for people with different diets.

Learning outcomes and their assessment

Knowledge and understanding of nutrition and its role in maintaining health, as well as binding legislation and recommendations. (Test 1, practical work).
Skills to calculate the amount of energy needed by an individual per day, to develop new food products, performing the calculation of their nutrients and energy value, to evaluate different diets. (2nd and 3rd test, practical work).
Competences: understands the essence of a healthy diet and is able to analyse and evaluate various sources of information about nutrition, providing a reasoned opinion. (Discussion with the teacher on nutrition topics, justifying his / her opinion).

Course Content(Calendar)

1. Nutrition. Nutrients, their role and functions in the body. Proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. (Lectures - 2h)
2. The required amount of energy and their consumption. Physical activities. Herisa-Benedict formula. (Practical works - 2 h)
3. Possibilities of body weight evaluation. Body Mass Index (BMI). Brocade index. Waist and hip circumference measurements. Expression of body weight and height in percentiles for children and adolescents. (Practical works - 2 h)
4. Diet, its types. Reasons to start and stop a diet. Causes of excess weight. Statistics of Latvia. Jo-jo effect. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
5. Eating disorders. Facts and examples. Peer attitude and influence. Fasting - for and against. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
6. Legislation. Cabinet Regulation No. 172. Recommended energy and nutrient intakes for the population of Latvia. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
Test 1
7. Healthy eating recommendations for adults. Analysis. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
8. Is healthy always healthy? How to evaluate which product is healthy or not? How not to be confused by the wide range of products? Food labelling. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
9. Health claims on the product label. How do the consumer understand them? (Lecture - 1 h)
10. Healthy eating recommendations for women during pregnancy. Healthy eating tips for babies. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
11. Healthy eating recommendations for children from 2 to 18 years of age. The influence of parents in the formation and strengthening of the child's eating habits. Nutrition prohibitions. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
12. Vegetarianism, its types. Healthy eating tips for vegetarians. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
Test 2
13. The Mediterranean diet as one of the healthiest diets in the world. Highest life indicators. Dominant product groups: cereals, vegetables, fruits and olive oil. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
14. Shared diet, its justification, conditions, application and evaluation. (Lecture - 1 h)
15. Low carbohydrate or no carbohydrate diet. Protein diets. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
16. Celiac disease, how to live with it. Dieting. Product offer in supermarkets. Phenylketonuria, how to live with it. Dieting. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
17. Lactose intolerance, its types, causes. Distribution in Latvia and in the world. Lactose - free product groups. Dieting. Gout - a disease of “aristocrats”. Causes and consequences. Necessary diet. (Lecture - 1 h, practical work - 1 h)
Test 3
Discussion with the teacher on nutrition topics, justifying their opinion

Requirements for awarding credit points

3 planned tests must be successfully written. Must participate in practical work (not less than 80%).

Description of the organization and tasks of students’ independent work

The student independently gets acquainted with additional information available in e-studies, on the websites of the Ministry of Health and the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and uses the research available in the scientific database to form his / her opinion on various nutrition issues.

Criteria for Evaluating Learning Outcomes

Each test mark makes up 30% of the total grade, which makes up 90%. 10% of the total mark is made up of practical work.

Compulsory reading

1. Gropper, S.S., Smith, J.L., Carr, T.P. Advanced nutrition and human metabolism. 7th edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2017. -583 lpp.
2. Brown, J.E....[et al.]. Nutrition through the life cycle. 6th edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2016. -590 lpp.
3. Bender, D.A. Introduction to nutrition and metabolism. 5th edition. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 2014. -404 lpp.
4. Essentials of human nutrition. By: Mann, Jim; Truswell, A. Stewart. Edition: 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2002. E-Book., Database: eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost)

Further reading

1. Food Neophobia: behavioral and biological influences. Edited by Steve Reilly. Duxford, United Kingdom: Woodhead Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier, 2018. -399 lpp.
2. Drummond, K.E., Brefere, L.M. Study guide to accompany nutrition for foodservice and culinary professionals. 9th edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2017. -236 lpp.

Periodicals and other sources

VM mājaslapa par veselīgu uzturu: https://www.vm.gov.lv/lv/veseligs-uzturs
SPKC mājaslapa par veselīgu uzturu: https://www.spkc.gov.lv/lv/veseligs-uzturs

Notes

Elective course for students of the second level professional higher educational programme “Food Technology”