BIOL 545 - Nutrition

(3 hours) Prerequisites: One Chemistry course and BIOL 241 and BIOL 241L or BIOL 227 and BIOL 227L or BIOL 210 and BIOL 210L (grades of “C” or better). An introduction to nutrition at the molecular and cellular levels with emphasis on the biochemistry of carbohydrates, fat, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, and on the molecular mechanisms by which deficiencies and excesses of nutrients lead to diseases. Students perform nutritional evaluations of their own diets and write a research paper on a specific topic of their choice.

Graduate Section: In addition to the topics above, graduate students will conduct an extensive community based research project assessed by experimental design, written paper in scientific journal format and a formal presentation. Graduate student diet analysis will be more detailed and cover a longer time frame. Graduate students will also complete problem solving tasks such as determining the reliability of a nutrition website, calculating nutrient densities and percent daily values, converting international units to weight measurements, analyzing lead poisoning with the EPA, calculating energy intakes for hospitalized patients, preventing cross contamination, reducing diet and drug interactions, analyzing oral formulas and calculating tube feeding schedules, constructing an enteral nutrition support plan, osmolarity vs osmolality, and developing diet plans for various disorders such as diabetes, heart disease, irritable bowl syndrome, etc. Note: Students with credit for BIOL 345 may not take BIOL 545. This course cannot be challenged.