Undergraduate - UnitNUT3003 - Sport and exercise nutrition

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of Nutrition and Dietetics
Offered	Clayton First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Ricardo Costa

Synopsis

This unit is focused on students' developing knowledge, skills, and competencies to critically evaluate current developments in sport and exercise nutrition, targeting both health and sports performance outcomes in a variety of populations. The scientific disciplines of exercise physiology, biochemistry and immunology will be emphasised as students critically evaluate the underlying evidence supporting benchmark nutritional guidelines and recommendations given to individuals/groups partaking in exercise. Laboratory sessions will provide practical experience of various anthropometrical, nutritional and hydration assessment techniques; alongside applying knowledge of area specific theories into practice through a kitchen laboratory session. Particular reference to the roles and responsibilities of the sport and exercise nutrition expert when working in multi-disciplinary teams will be emphasised.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Evaluate the role of macro- and micro-nutrients in human energy transfer systems active during different types of exercise and recognise the nutritional implications.
Evaluate physiological and anthropometric measurements to assess fitness / body composition and interpret these results for dietary intervention.
Appraise the physiological effect of the environment upon sport and exercise performance and demonstrate awareness of dietary strategies for preparation and management of environmental stressors.
Describe immune responses to exercise and evaluate the role of nutrition and hydration within exercise-induced immune perturbations.
Evaluate nutritional and hydration assessment techniques that can be used to assess status of individual/s involved in sport and/or exercise.
Appraise evidence-based nutritional and hydration requirements for active individual/s over a wide range of sporting activities and levels.
Create suitable evidence-based practical food and fluid strategies which take into account the assessment data and unique characteristics of the individual/team.
Apply theories of behaviour change to support compliance of dietary intervention.
Analyse the evidence base for nutritional supplements and their suitability at differing levels of sport and/or exercise participation.
Recognise the role and responsibilities of the sport and exercise nutrition expert within the sporting multi-disciplinary team.

Assessment

Critical essay (30%)
Laboratory practical report (20%)
Case study (30%)
Oral presentation (20%)

Workload requirements

12 x 2 hour per week lectures/tutorials on campus, 12 x 2 hour per week seminars on campus (delivered twice, seminar groups A and B), 3 x 3 hour practical sessions (physiology, hydration, kitchen lab) - (delivered twice, seminar groups A and B).

36 hours self-study and formative/summative assessment related work.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Ricardo Costa

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Nutrition and dietetics

Prerequisites

Must pass BND1002, BND1101, BND2002 and BND2103
or
BND1010 and a combination of any two relevant units (at the discretion of the unit convenor) from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences with a biochemistry and physiology component such as:
PHY2032, PHY2042, BMS2031, BMS2021, BCH2022.