HNE-24306 Methodology Nutrition Research

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

Basic knowledge of Nutrition and Applied Nutrition (knowledge should cover at least 80% of chapters from handbook:
Geissler C, Powers H. Human Nutrition, 12th ed. Livingstone. ISBN 13: 978-0702031182.
- basic knowledge of Statistics (e.g. MAT-14303 Basic Statistics))

Contents:

The aim of the course is to get insight and skills in various methods that are applied in nutrition intervention studies including challenge tests, food supplement studies and controlled diet studies. To achieve this aim, students will perform a nutrition intervention study from recruitment to data analysis. Students will also experience what it is to be a subject in an intervention study. If possible, a visit to the study site of an ongoing trial will be scheduled.
Topics that will be covered are: interventions with nutrients versus foods or complete diets; designs in nutritional research; suitable methods for food consumption measurement, biochemical parameters for intake or status, nutrigenetics, energy expenditure, physical activity, and body composition. Also quality aspects such as blinding, dosing, placebos, and compliance measurements will be addressed. Basic information about these topics will be mainly provided through weblectures. Teachers will be available for specific questions that come up during the design and performance of the intervention study. This course involves group work and individual work.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to:
- have insight in important considerations during design and execution of a nutrition intervention study;
- have insight in quality aspects of a nutrition intervention study;
- be able to choose appropriate methods to measure body composition, physical activity, dietary intake or nutrient status in a given situation;
- have practical skills in performing a nutrition intervention study;
- have basic skills in laboratory practice relevant to this field;
- understand the basic concepts of nutrigenomics;
- understand ethical issues with regard to the choice of subjects, methods and study design;
- be able to critically comment on methodological choices in published scientific literature.

Activities:

Students follow lectures that provide them with knowledge to design and perform a 2-day intervention study. The students work in pairs; they provide dietary guidelines and/or foods or supplements to their fellow student, measure their intake, and measure a biomarker of intake. Students analyse their own urine samples in the lab. Results will be discussed in tutorials, and will be written down in an individual research report which will be graded. Topics include: dietary assessment, biomarkers, body composition, physical activity and nutrigenomics. Throughout the course, feedback is given to the students with FeedbackFruits. Two e-learning modules are part of the course. Attending tutorals and practicals (working with the collected samples and some demos) is mandatory. We advise students to not make other appointments before 17.15 during this course.

Examination:

To complete the course, students need to hand in assignments on dietary.
assessment, physical activity, and the biomarker experiment. The assignments together form a report, which needs to be graded with a 6.0 or higher. At the end of the course, they have to pass an individual exam with a score of at least 5.5. The grade will be based for 40% on the report and 60% on the exam.

Literature:

To be announced.