Nutrition Science: Obesity and Healthy Weight Loss (FutureLearn)

Delve into the lifestyle contributors and lived experience of obesity and how to healthily promote weight loss. earn theories in human nutrition and weight management. According to NHS Digital, in the year 2019/2020, over 1 million hospital admissions were linked to obesity. On this four-week course, you’ll reflect on the role of nutrition in influencing weight gain as well as the lived experience of obesity to truly understand the different contributing factors.

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You’ll also have the opportunity to enhance your ability to analyse current and developing theories in human nutrition and weight management.

Explore global obesity trends

You’ll discover the epidemiology trends in obesity and also understand the major lifestyle contributors to obesity and weight gain in society.

You’ll examine the principles of nutrition and critically evaluate the evidence base for nutrition guidelines.

Unpack the challenges of obesity treatment and prevention

As you explore the contributors to weight gain, you’ll also discover the many challenges for the prevention and treatment of obesity and how these can be overcome.

You’ll examine the dietary strategies on body weight management and the physiological and psychological bases of weight gain. With this knowledge, you’ll have the ability to evaluate what affects weight wellness.

Understand the barriers and enablers of weight loss management

To understand the impact on longer-term weight management, you’ll explore the barriers and enablers to post-weight loss management.

This will help you describe both the strengths and limitations of weight loss methods as you evaluate these with supporting evidence.

You’ll hear from health care professionals, clinicians, and people living with obesity to ensure you finish the course with greater knowledge and empathy of the causes of weight gain.

Syllabus

Week 1: Prevention of Obesity and Overweight

Week 2: Weight Loss Diets

Week 3: Non-Nutritional Aspects of Weight Loss

Week 4: Weight Loss Maintenance

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

- Discuss the major lifestyle contributors to obesity and weight gain in society and the challenges for prevention and treatment.

- Explain the principles of nutrition and how they impact weight loss and critically evaluate the evidence base for nutrition guidelines.

- Apply knowledge of the physiological and psychological bases of obesity and weight gain and critically evaluate how they can impact weight wellness.

- Explain the barriers and enablers to post weight loss management and understand their impact on longer term weight management.

- Reflect on and describe the strengths and limitations of weight loss methods and evaluate these with supporting evidence.
Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone interested in health, in relation to obesity and weight gain.

You may be a health professional, working in health care or the food system, or you could simply be looking to enhance your CPD.

If you want to further your subject knowledge, you may be interested in these courses, from the same provider, that share the same overall learning outcomes:

- Nutrition Science: Lifestyle Medicine

- Nutrition Science: Food Choice and Behaviour