FOOD SC 1001WT - Food and Nutrition I

Waite Campus - Semester 1 - 2015

This course provides an overview of fundamental knowledge in food and nutrition. Students will learn about dietary guidelines and healthy eating; nutrient reference values; food composition including the six classes of nutrients and non-nutrient components of food; the major roles and functions of the principal nutrients and the metabolism of these nutrients in the human body; nutritional characteristics of the Five Food Groups; functional foods; concepts of energy balance; nutrient calculations; energy density of foods; assessment of diet quality and the impact of diet on nutritional status and health. Students will be introduced to the principles of nutrition research and the translation of nutrition research into nutrient recommendations, dietary guidelines and recommended daily food patterns. Students will also learn about report writing and how to evaluate and synthesize scientific literature and communicating in the context of nutrition. Students will develop a sound knowledge of food composition, an understanding of the fundamental concepts of nutrition and the links between food, nutrition and health. Students are required to keep a three-day diet diary and will apply knowledge gained during the course to estimate energy requirements and assess diet quality of individuals.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code FOOD SC 1001WT
    Course Food and Nutrition I
    Coordinating Unit School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
    Term Semester 1
    Level Undergraduate
    Location/s Waite Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 3 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Course Description This course provides an overview of fundamental knowledge in food and nutrition. Students will learn about dietary guidelines and healthy eating; nutrient reference values; food composition including the six classes of nutrients and non-nutrient components of food; the major roles and functions of the principal nutrients and the metabolism of these nutrients in the human body; nutritional characteristics of the Five Food Groups; functional foods; concepts of energy balance; nutrient calculations; energy density of foods; assessment of diet quality and the impact of diet on nutritional status and health. Students will be introduced to the principles of nutrition research and the translation of nutrition research into nutrient recommendations, dietary guidelines and recommended daily food patterns. Students will also learn about report writing and how to evaluate and synthesize scientific literature and communicating in the context of nutrition.

    Students will develop a sound knowledge of food composition, an understanding of the fundamental concepts of nutrition and the links between food, nutrition and health. Students are required to keep a three-day diet diary and will apply knowledge gained during the course to estimate energy requirements and assess diet quality of individuals.
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Dr Jo Zhou

    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the fundamental concepts in food and nutrition.
    2 Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the roles and functions of principal nutrients and an awareness of functional foods.
    3 Demonstrate an understanding of the processes involved in digestion, absorption, metabolism and utilisation of each of the macronutrients and major vitamins and minerals.
    4 Exhibit detailed knowledge of the nutrient content of most primary food sources.
    5 Demonstrate a good understanding of the concept of nutrient recommendations, being able to explain the unique purpose of each of the four Australian nutrient reference value categories.
    6 Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between diet, lifestyle and health.
    7 Demonstrate the ability to estimate energy requirements, qualitatively assess dietary quality of an individual and plan a healthy diet.
    8 Demonstrate the ability to evaluate and synthesize scientific literature in food and nutrition.
    9 Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in the context of nutrition.
    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)
    Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of a chosen discipline at advanced levels that are internationally recognised. 1-10
    The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner. 6-10
    An ability to apply effective, creative and innovative solutions, both independently and cooperatively, to current and future problems. 6-10
    Skills of a high order in interpersonal understanding, teamwork and communication. 8-10
    A proficiency in the appropriate use of contemporary technologies. 8-10
    A commitment to continuous learning and the capacity to maintain intellectual curiosity throughout life. 1-10
    A commitment to the highest standards of professional endeavour and the ability to take a leadership role in the community. 1-10
    An awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues within a global context and their importance in the exercise of professional skills and responsibilities. 9-10
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources

    Access to the on-line resource:

    • NHMRC, Australian Government. Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand
    • Including Recommended Dietary Intakes, Australian Government 2006
    • http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/n35.pdf
    • Available as a pdf file only

    Access to the on-line resource:

    • NHMRC, Australian Government. Eat for Health – Australian Dietary Guidelines Summary.
      http://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/the_guidelines/n55a_australian_dietary_guidelines_summary_131014.pdf

    Access to the on-line report writing resource Turnitin.

    • www.turnitin.com

    A class site will be set up in Turnitin:A class ID and password will be issued early on in the course.

    Recommended Resources

    Highly Recommended Textbook

    • E Whitney, SR Rolfes, Crowe T, Cameron-Smith D, Walsh A Understanding Nutrition: Australian and New Zealand Edition, 2nd Ed.: Australia: Cengage Learning Australia, 2014
    Copies of this text book can be found in both the Barr Smith and Waite Libraries. This text can be purchased from the UniBook Shop at the North Terrace Campus.

    Recommended Readings

    • J Germov& Williams (eds) A Sociology of Food and Nutrition: The social appetite. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 1999.
    • One Continuous Picnic: A history of eating in Australia. Australia: Penguin, 1982
    Important sources for original research and review articles
    • American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
    • Artherosclerosis
    • British Medical Journal
    • British Journal of Nutrition
    • Journal of Nutrition
    • Circulation
    • European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
    • Journal of the American Dietetic Association
    • Lancet
    • New England Journal of Medicine
    • Nutrition & Dietetics
    Additional references and reading material will be distributed during lectures and tutorials.
    Online Learning
    MyUni: Teaching materials and course documentation will be posted on the MyUni website (http://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/).
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes

    Lectures are used to deliver content relevant to the specified course objectives. Lectures include the opportunity for open discussion, questions and problem solving activities.

    Tutorials aim to develop and support the material covered in the lectures as well as provide a forum for acquiring skills and knowledge necessary to complete the assessment tasks. The tutorials take the form of class discussions, demonstrations and problems-solving activities. 

    Practicals aim to apply the knowledge covered in the lectures to assess nutritional quality of an individual’s diet and to modify a diet with the aim to improve diet quality and long term health.

    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    A student enrolled in a 3 unit course, such as this, should expect to spend, on average 12 hours per week on the studies required. This includes both the formal contact time required to the course (e.g., lectures and practicals), as well as non-contact time (e.g., reading and revision).

    Learning Activities Summary
    Lecture Topics Include:
    • Orientation lecture
    • What is in food 
    • Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) & Healthy Eating Guidelines
    • Functions of principal nutrients and functional foods
    • Introduction to nutrition research
    Practical Session: 
    • 1 x 2 hour session to analyse a food diary. Students are required to assess the nutritional quality of the diet using Five Food Groups and Australian Dietary Guidelines, suggest appropriate modifications to the diet that will lead to improve long term health and complete questions on the practical report booklet.
    Tutorials include:
    • Report writing, avoiding plagiarism and using Turnitin to improve writing 
    • Assessments, feedback and exam revision 
    • Group activities on what’s in food, nutritional characteristics of Food Groups, role and functions of principal nutrients, nutrient calculation and food labelling


  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
    Assessment taskType of assessmentPercentage of total assessment for grading purposesHurdle (Yes/No)Outcome being assessedApproximate Timing of Assessment
    Online Test Summative & Formative 10%
    No
    1-5 Week 5
    Tutorial Group Tasks Summative & Formative 10% No 1-7, 9 Weeks 5,7,9,10 & 11
    Practical Report - Dietary Analysis Summative & Formative 15% No 1-6, 9 Weeks 4 & 7
    Written Assignment Summative & Formative 25% No 1-9 Week 11
    Exam Summative 40% No 1-9 Exam period
    Assessment Related Requirements

    Minimum requirements for passing Food and Nutrition I

    To pass, students must gain an overall mark of at least 50%. Students are required to submit each assessment task.

    Failure to meet the above minimum requirements for the course may result in a student failing the course or being offered an additional assessment task(s).

    Assessment Detail

    ONLINE TEST (10%)
    There will be an online test examining students’ knowledge and understanding of fundamental concepts in human nutrition covered in the first few weeks of lectures and tutorials including six classes of nutrients, Nutrient Reference Values, Food Group System and Australian Dietary Guidelines. The test will consist of a mixture of multiple choice, matching, True/False and short answer questions and will take approximately 30 – 40 minutes to complete.

    TUTORIAL GROUP TASKS (10%)
    There will be five group tasks (2% each task), one at each of the group activity tutorials. Students will be assigned to a group of 4-5 for these tasks at the beginning of the course and will be required to work in their assigned group during the tutorials. A list of questions, assessing students’ understanding and application of knowledge covered in lectures, will be provided to each group at the beginning of the tutorials. Students will work through the questions in the group during the tutorials. One member from each group will present their group answer for one of the questions on the list (assigned by tutors) to the class.

    PRACTICAL REPORT – RECORDING AND ANALYSING A DIET DIARY (15%)
    This assessment includes two parts – Part A and Part B.
    Part A: Students will be required to keep a record of their dietary intake for three days. Students will be required to complete this part outside of the practical session.
    Part B: Students will be given a completed diet diary to assess nutritional quality of the given diet based on the Healthy Eating Guidelines. During the practical session, students will determine the correct food group for each food item in the diet diary and calculate the average daily intake from each food group. After the practical session, students will require to complete a report (300 – 500 words) on their assessment of the diet and to suggest appropriate modifications to the diet that will lead to improve long term health. This assessment examines student’s ability to record, analyse and interpret data, their understanding of the knowledge covered in lectures as well as their ability to apply the knowledge in practice.

    WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT (25%)
    As a nutrition consultant for a health magazine, students will be required to prepare a summary report (1,500 – 2,000 words) on a topical issue in food and nutrition, which is based on scientific evidence and recommendations from government bodies. This assessment examines students’ knowledge of nutrition, their ability to evaluate and synthesize nutrition information and their skills in effective communication.

    EXAM (40%)
    The final exam will examine all components of the course. It will consist of short and long answer questions. 

    Submission

    Online Test
    This task must be submitted online via the course website on MyUni.  

    Tutorial Group Tasks
    This must be submitted in hard copy form to the tutor at the end of the each tutorial.

    Written Assignment
    This must be submitted in hard copy form (paper based) and must be accompanied by a signed and completed Assessment Cover-Sheet by the required due date. In addition, an electronic copy must be submitted to TURNITIN.

    Practical Report
    Part A to be submitted in hard copy form with a signed and completed Assessment Cover-Sheet.
    Part B to be submitted online via the course website on MyUni.

    Assessment Cover-Sheet

    An assessment cover-sheet must be completed and signed with all hard copies of assignments that are submitted. Assignments will not be accepted without a completed assessment cover sheet.

    The assessment cover sheet is available electronically on MyUni.

    Student Feedback on Assignments/work

    Feedback on assignments/work will be within four weeks of the due date.

    Feedback for each assessment task will be provided in the form of a completed assessment rubric – with the exception of the exam.

    Late submission of assessments

    If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that the assignment is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days late or more without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the marks available for that assignment. 

    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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