NS 6500 - Public Health Nutrition

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: introductory nutrition course and an introductory social science course. Enrollment limited to: graduate students. Co-meets with NS 4500.

L. Bellows.

Public health nutrition is the major professional career track for nutritionists outside of dietetics. It deals with efforts to improve the diets and nutritional status of whole populations by working at the community, state, and national levels. This course helps to prepare students to work in public health nutrition by describing the methods used in the assessment of nutrition problems, the development of nutrition-related policies, and the delivery of health, nutrition, and food assistance programs.

Outcome 1: To learn the core functions of government in public health and understand how they are applied to nutrition. Students will be able to: (1) describe the functions of government in public health and articulate how they are related to their personal profession goals, (2) describe the evolution of public health and public health nutrition policies in the US, (3) understand best practices and key considerations in working with diverse audiences and (4) apply communication strategies.

Outcome 2: To understand how health problems related to nutrition are assessed at the population level. Students will be able to: (1) describe how nutrition problems are assessed at the individual and population level, (2) describe how nutritional status is monitored in the American population and (3) discuss the concepts used to link food production to health, including relevant economic and social concerns.

Outcome 3: To identify the necessary monitoring and evaluation measures to critique and improve food and nutrition-related programs and interventions. Students will be able to: (1) discuss relevant techniques to monitor nutrition and health status outcomes, (2) evaluate and discuss nutrition and health interventions and programs, and (3) evaluate and discuss community-based programs designed to improve public health and the food system.

Outcome 4: To be able to analyze current nutrition problems and policy instruments and develop and critique policy alternatives. Students will be able to: (1) identify gaps of nutrition policies in the US, (2) develop alternative policy options and (3) compare policy options using relevant analytic approaches.

Outcome 5: To understand the context for food assistance programs in the United States, how they operate and their strengths and weaknesses. For each program covered in class, students will be able to: (1) describe the program (including who is eligible and what benefits are provided) and how its design relates to its rationale and goals, (2) discuss its positive aspects, (3) critique its negative aspects and (4) name the agency responsible for it.