HNE-36806 Nutrition and Sports

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

Nutritional Physiology HAP-30306.

Continuation courses:

MSc Thesis Nutrition and Health over the Lifecourse

Contents:

High levels of physical exercise, as in various sports, may influence nutrient requirements. On the other hand, specific nutritional strategies before, during, and after exercise may help improve performance, accelerate recovery, and promote health of the athlete.
The objective of this course is to transfer current insights on the interaction between nutrition and sports.
The course consists of three parts: Exercise Physiology (week 1-2), Nutritional strategies (week 3-5), Sport, Nutrition and the Athlete's Health (week 6).

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- describe the specific issue in sport nutrition research;
- describe the metabolic pathways of energy expenditure during exercise and apply this to different types of athletes;
- describe, discuss and illustrate the physiological changes during exercise, e.g. cardiopulmonal changes, skeletomuscular adaptations and thermoregulation;
- describe and explain the relationship between nutrition, sport and certain health problems, i.e. immune function, GI function and the female athlete triad;
- discuss the nutritional strategies to achieve nutritional requirements for different types of athletes;
- explain which nutrients/nutritional strategies may improve performance;
- interpret and report data obtained during exercise testing;
- evaluate the scientific evidence for ergogenic aids and give conclusions about the proposed claims.

Activities:

The course consists of:
- lectures by staff and invited lecturers;
- excursions;
- tutorials;
- and project education as well as practicals related to exercise physiology.

Examination:

The final grade will be based on a written exam. In addition, the student should have attended all the mandatory activities of the course, and evaluation of the practical should be sufficient

Literature:

Asker Jeukendrup & Michael Gleeson. Sport Nutrition: An Introduction To Energy Production And Performance. 488 p.
Human Kinetics Publishers. 2nd Revised ed. 2010. ISBN:10 0736079629 / ISBN:13 9780736079624.
Course reader will be available at the WUR-shop.