Clinical Nutrition – evidence-based practice

The preventive aspect and importance of nutrition are well-known for both deficiency and chronic diseases. The importance of nutrition on global health is demonstrated in the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 as set by the United Nations General Assembly, as nutrition is considered a cornerstone for 12 out of 17 of these goals. Nutrition has a positive effect on health as well as on economic growth.

Clinical nutrition described as the basic interdisciplinary and applied science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and management of nutritional and metabolic changes related to acute and chronic diseases for both patients in healthcare institutions or those who receive care periodically as outpatients, is an old concept but the importance is hardly recognized.

Aiming to emphasize the importance of clinical nutrition, this course equips you with evidence-based insights and practical know-how on nutrition-related solutions. By providing you with this information, the course broadens your conceptual knowledge towards the context & background-independent application of nutrition-related issues due to chronic and infectious disorders.

Our evidence-based practice approach will allow you as a decision-maker to identify the relevant evidence for practice while taking into account the sociocultural background and wishes of a patient. This evidence-based practice approach will eliminate the ‘trial & error’ approach in favor of better health outcomes and originates from North and South countries.

This course is taught by instructors with decades of experience in clinical nutrition, dietetics, endocrinology, and gastroenterology. The instructors are teachers/lecturers and researchers in these fields at universities in Europe (KU Leuven, Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism) and in Africa (Stellenbosh University, Division of Human Nutrition; University of Ghana, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics; University of Rwanda, School of Public Health, and University of Zimbabwe, Institute of Food and Nutrition) which is the uniqueness of this course.

By being able to apply the evidence-based practice of clinical nutrition in different situations you will be able to function as a linking pin between research and practice with experience from North & South countries. Such profiles align strongly with the future outlook of nutrition-related needs as reported by organizations like the World Food Programme, World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, and International Committee of the Red Cross.

This MOOC was created with the support of the KU Leuven Faculty of Medicine

What you'll learn

• Acquire basic knowledge of clinical nutrition:
• the treatment of obesity.
• the treatment of diabetes
• the treatment of malnutrition
• the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases
• the treatment of infectious diseases, more specifically HIV
• Translate scientific evidence into practice.
• Acquire practical experience from both North & South Countries
• Use nutrition as a treatment strategy.
• Apply nutrition strategies in treating specific disorders.
• Decontextualize concepts over different contexts.