AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
Department of Food 
Science & Human Nutrition

Nutrition Research Methods

Content

1. Introduction to Nutrition Research Methods
2. Basic notions of scientific research – emphasizing on nutrition and health
3. Distribution and Descriptive measures
4. Measures of effect
5. Study types in nutrition filed – strengths and limitations Part 1
6. Study types in nutrition filed – strengths and limitations Part 2
7. Nutritional Assessment Methods
8. Food composition & Biomarkers: assessment methods
9. Confounding & Bias in research
10. Qualitative Research Design
11. Quantitative Research Design – work shop part 1
12. Quantitative Research Design – work shop part 2
13. Recap

Learning results

This course is a baseline general course on important notions in Nutrition Research Methods. The primary aim is of this course is to introduce the students to important concepts of scientific research, nutritional epidemiology, and to link these concepts on deriving a hypothesis for a research protocol. The students will learn how to assess associations between exposure(s) and outcome(s).
Introductory methodological Systematic Review concepts will also be covered, and critical evaluation of the literature (study design and nutritional assessment methods) will be underlined, in order for the student to be able to find relevant scientific literature using acceptable search engines, but also to understand the studies design, strengths and limitations.

By the end of this course the students will be able to:

  • Have a good understanding of the basic critical characteristics of a scientific study, and its contribution to the field on Nutrition & Health.
  • Be knowledgeable of the tools and techniques required for assessing the order and strength of the indicators from different study types, accounting for strengths and limitations of the study design.
  • To distinguish and acknowledge the main study types and association measures used each time, based on the study type.
  • To use methodological assessment tools for acquiring nutritional intake information, and conduct an adequate literature review for planning a research protocol.

Bibliography

1. Lovegrove JA; Hodson L; Sharma S; Lanham-New SA. (2015). Γενική Επιμέλεια: Ζαμπέλας Α. Επιμέρους Επιμέλεια: Μαγριπλή Ε, Ηλιόπουλος Η και Χατζόπουλος Π. Μεθοδολογίες Διατροφικής Έρευνας. Εκδόσεις Πασχαλίδης. Willey Online Library; Print ISBN: 9781118554678. John Willey & Sons, Ltd
2. Walter Willett, Nutritional Epidemiology, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2012.
3. Margetts and Nelson, Design Concepts in Nutritional Epidemiology, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1997

NEWSLETTER

The Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition (renamed Department of Food Science and Technology, Decree 80/27/5/13, Government Gazette A119 28/5/13) offers its students the scientific background for a rational approach to scientific and technological issues related to the food sector.
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