NNEK26002U Evidence in Nutrition-related Diseases

Volume 2026/2027
Education

MSc Programme in Human Nutrition

Content

The main objective of the course is to give students an understanding of the relationship between diets/nutrition and non-communicable diseases, and how to assess available evidence for a causal relationship between them. Students will learn about the pathophysiology of selected nutrition-related diseases, how diets/nutrients influence them and learn to evaluate existing evidence based on basic epidemiological methods and concepts

The course will mainly cover the following diseases: malnutrition, non-communicable diseases like obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, CVDs, cancer and bone diseases.

Learning Outcome

After completion of the course, the students should be able to:

Knowledge

  • Define epidemiology and causality, including basic epidemiological concepts like bias, confounding, internal and external validity, and effect modification
  • Describe study designs including their strengths and limitations
  • Describe the pathogenesis and risk factors of the most common non-communicable diseases and malnutrition
  • Describe dietary strategies for treatment of under- and malnutrition


Skills

  • Demonstrate ability to read and understand scientific papers on epidemiological studies
  • Critically assess and discuss the validity of studies on diet-health relationships
  • Discuss and reflect on the effect of diet/nutrients on the prevention and treatment of the most common non-communicable diseases and malnutrition


Competences

  • Perform evidence evaluations and identify gaps in current knowledge of relationships between diet/nutrients and health
  • Critically assess the effect of diet/lifestyle on risk factors and development of non-communicable diseases.
  • Recommend dietary/lifestyle changes for the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases based on scientific evidence
  • Evaluate diet/nutrition strategies in the prevention and treatment of malnutrition

Relevant course material will be uploaded on Absalon.

Academic qualifications equivalent to a BSc degree is recommended.
Knowledge and skills in nutrition, physiology, biochemistry and statistics are recommended.
Lectures, exercises and discussions in plenum.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 24
  • Class Instruction
  • 24
  • Preparation
  • 155
  • Exam
  • 3
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester

Oral feedback will be given collectively when reviewing exercises performed during lectures.

Credit
7.5 ECTS
Type of assessment
On-site written exam, 3 hours under invigilation
Type of assessment details
Written examination consisting of an essay.

The on-site written exam is an ITX exam.
See important information about ITX-exams at Study Information, menu point: Exams -> Exam types and rules -> Written on-site exams (ITX)
Aid
Only certain aids allowed (see description below)

Only dictionaries supported/offered by University of Copenhagen are allowed.

 

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Several internal examiners
Re-exam

Same as ordinary exam.

If ten or fewer students have registered for re-examination, the examination will be changed to a 20 minutes oral examination without preparation.

Criteria for exam assesment

Please see "Learning Outcome".