Program Overview

The BSc Nutritional Sciences course focuses on the role of diet in health promotion and disease prevention (including problems related to undernutrition and over-nutrition, and especially the major non communicable chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis). This is done from an individual, national and international perspective, using insights gained from a wide range of scientific disciplines.

Nutritional science is the study of food as it impacts our health and is concerned with the provision of food and nutrients to the body to facilitate optimum physical and mental development and maintenance of health throughout life.

A six-month work placement in third year forms a significant part of the course and, along with the rich learning load of the placement itself, will enhance your future employment and career development.

The course will give you a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between diet and health and you will learn how to apply this knowledge to the provision of nutritional advice to the public, as well as providing safe, wholesome and nutritious food to the consumer.

A six-month work placement forms an integral part of the course in Year 3.

On completion of the course you will be able to:

• Apply current knowledge in nutritional science from a molecular, cellular and tissue level to the whole person and to population groups to calculate food and nutrient requirements across the life-span in health and disease;
• Devise nutritional guidance for individuals and population groups for the maintenance of good health, in the context of authoritative dietary reference and food safety standards;
• Employ specialist experimental skills in nutritional research and analysis;
• Identify and critically evaluate emerging knowledge in nutrition and use this as a basis for developing novel approaches to solving challenges in industry, research/academia, government agencies, healthcare and other sectors;
• Interpret and translate nutritional science meaningfully and communicate the science effectively;
• And work effectively as a nutrition professional.