MAERN4200 Clinical Nutrition Course description

Language of instruction: Norwegian

In this course, students will learn how to make simple nutritional assessments and how to provide dietary advice for users and patients. Different types of special diets and nutritional supplements are discussed in this context. The students will be given an introduction to rules and regulations concerning practical nutrition work, including the roles of different expert groups in this work.

The course will be mainly online, except for one seminar on campus during the start of the course. The online course will involve presentations, seminars and supervision. The course will use varied, student-active working methods, individually and in groups. The student is responsible to be up-to-date on activities and academic content in the learning platforms. 

The student must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences - Specialisation in Nutrition Competencies for Health Personnel.

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence: 

Knowledge  

The student 

• can describe  and dicuss how key nutritional challenges are treated using diet in selected user and patient groups 
• can assess the need for and compare different types of special diets and nutritional supplements 
• can describe how the effect of certain medication can affect nutritional status, and vice versa 

Skills  

The student 

• can perform a simple nutritional assessment of users and patients
• can provide dietary advice

General competence  

The student 

• can describe and discuss ethical aspects related to dietary treatment of disease
• knows responsibilities in multidisciplinary nutritional work and can collaborate with clinical dietitians and other health professionals 

The course includes synchronous hybrid webseminars, in addition to asynchronous self-study. The teaching and learning methods will encompass student-active work methods, and a combination of lectures and group work, as well as real real-life case-based learning and digital learning tools. The student is responsible to be up-to-date on activities and academic content in the learning platforms.

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the examination: 

• Preparation of a diet for a group selected by the student - report of 1,000 words +/- 10%
• A multiple choice test with a minimum of 80% correct answers by the given deadline.

Language of instruction: Norwegian 

It is known that individuals respond differently to intake of the same food. Much of this individual response can be explained by individual gene variants, epigenetics, gut microbiota and exposure to environmental factors. Personalised nutrition is nutritional advice adapted to individuals or groups of ‘similar’ individuals. The nutritional advice is therefore based on the individual’s biology in interaction with the environment. Personalised nutrition is a discipline related to personalised or precision medicine, where also individual variations form the basis for preventing and treating illness. These disciplines are developing very rapidly due to technological developments and increased knowledge in the field of molecular biology. This course aims to provide an introduction to key concepts and technological methods related to personalised nutrition and medicine. It will also provide an insight into how personalised nutrition can contribute to improve the health of individuals and thereby public health

The student must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences.

Grade scale A-F.

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence: 

Knowledge 

The student

• can discuss important concepts in personalised nutrition and medicine, such as nutrigenomics, nutrigenetics, epigenetics, gene variants (SNPs) and systems biology
• can discuss the causes and significance of individual responses to intake of food and the development of non-communicable diseases
• can describe large-scale biotechnological methods that form the basis for knowledge about individual responses and personalised nutrition and medicine
• can critically discuss ethical and personal data challenges related to personalised nutrition, such as knowledge about gene variants and risk of illness

Skills 

The student

• can critically assess problems related to the use of personalised nutrition
• can discuss social implications of using individual rather than population-based dietary advice

General competence

The student

• can stay up to date on new biotechnological and scientific methods that are important for understanding individual variation and the development of non-communicable diseases
• can communicate the significance of personalised nutrition in a well-founded, scientific manner

The following coursework must have been approved in order for a student to be permitted to take the examination: 

• Presentation (poster or talk) of a chosen topic in personalised nutrition, individually or in groups of two to three students.