This course examines contemporary nutrition theories, dietary patterns, and popular nutrition practices through an evidence-based, systems-oriented lens. Students explore the relationships among diet, chronic disease, public health trends, personalized nutrition, and widely promoted interventions, including fasting, elimination diets, detoxification, and functional foods. Emphasis is placed on evaluating scientific literature, distinguishing evidence from misinformation, and understanding the social, ethical, and regulatory forces shaping food and supplement choices. Through applied analysis, discussion, and a comparative research paper, students develop the skills needed to make informed, ethical, and individualized nutrition recommendations that is evidence-based.
Describe and explain major nutrition-related health trends in the United States and globally, including dietary patterns, food systems, and lifestyle factors that contribute to chronic disease, mortality, and health disparities.
Analyze the relationships among diet quality, food processing, socioeconomic determinants, cultural context, and individual variability (genetic, metabolic, behavioral) in shaping nutrition-related health outcomes.
Evaluate nutrition research, public health data, dietary guidelines, and popular media claims using evidence-based frameworks to distinguish scientifically supported information from misinformation, pseudoscience, and marketing bias.
Compare and contrast nutrition paradigms and interventions, including nutritionism, food-as-medicine, food neutrality, personalized nutrition, fasting protocols, elimination diets, detoxification, and acid–alkaline approaches, based on scientific evidence, ethical considerations, and population appropriateness.
Apply principles of nutrition science, label literacy, and regulatory knowledge to make informed, ethical, and inclusive dietary recommendations that account for individual needs, health risks, cultural context, and potential contraindications.
Synthesize evidence from nutrition science, public health, policy, and ethics to develop coherent, critical arguments or written analyses addressing contemporary nutrition controversies, interventions, and food system challenges.
Maximum Enrollment: 30 students
Required Materials (Course Pack)
1 oz Fennel Seed Sweet Organic Foeniculum vulgare ssp. vulgare var. dulce
1 oz German Chamomile Flowers Organic Matricaria recutita
1 oz Dandelion Root Organic Taraxacum officinale
1 oz Peppermint Leaf Organic Mentha x piperita
Stainless Steel Tea Infuser
Required Textbooks:
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Total Course Price:
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Last updated 1/16/26
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Minimum of a high school diploma or equivalency and recommendation for admission by the ACHS Admissions Committee.
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