Nutritional Sciences draws upon several disciplines, including biology, to understand the relationships between food, nutrients, and human health. The program of study in Human Nutrition offers biology majors courses concerned with the nature and biochemical function of essential and non-essential nutrients, nutrient requirements, the role of nutrients in gene expression, and the role of diet in both risk of chronic disease and treatment of existing disease states.
Students in this program of study are encouraged to complete a diverse set of advanced courses affording a perspective on current knowledge of nutrient requirements and function and how this knowledge can be put to use. With the exception of a core course in the structure and function of nutrients, the course requirements are left unspecified. Faculty advisors work with individual students to develop a curriculum that fits the students' interests. As part of their program, students are encouraged to obtain laboratory experience either through coursework or research. Faculty in Nutritional Sciences are engaged in a wide variety of research activities, including nutritional regulation of gene expression, nutrient function, and regulation of nutritional status, employing diverse approaches such as cell culture, animal experimentation, and human metabolic studies.
Students completing the program in nutrition most often choose to continue their education in medical or graduate school, and pursue careers in the applied aspects of nutrition or in laboratory-based or epidemiological research.
Required classes for the Program of Study in Human Nutrition (total 13 credits):
NS 331, Physiological and Biochemical Bases of Human Nutrition (4 cr) and at least 9 credits of additional coursework from the following list: