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Unit of Study FOOD5004 - Food as Medicine (2024)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Unit type

    PG Coursework Unit

  • Credit points

    12

  • Faculty/College

    Faculty of Health

  • Placement

    No

  • Enrolment information

    N/A

Unit description

This unit explores the links between food and health, and how food can play an important role in contemporary health care. You will discover the therapeutic benefits of food (beyond basic nutrition) and investigate potential food contaminants. Having identified and critically appraised current evidence, you will communicate research outcomes in language that is meaningful to the average consumer. You will learn how to analyse an individual’s diet (perhaps even your own), and provide recommendations in the context of values, culture and lifestyle. This will be conducted with a recognition that food choices not only affect the health of the individual but also have ethical, social, economic and environmental effects on the wider community.

Unit content

  1. Basic nutrition and different types of diets
  2. The role of food in complementary and integrative medicine and planetary health
  3. How food contaminants impact health
  4. The role of food in chronic disease and mental health
  5. Evidence for organic food consumption
  6. Foods that support a healthy gut microbiome

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Online
Term5
Term5

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

compare the composition of a range of diets for their nutritional value and contribution to health

critically appraise the effects of primary production, storage and processing methods on individual and planetary health

critically appraise the impacts of food on physical and mental health

propose evidence-based dietary recommendations in the context of lifestyle, values and culture

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
  • No prescribed texts.
Prescribed Resources/Equipment

  • There are readings and resources and overview provided for each module in this unit. See MySCU for details.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.