Causes of Human Disease

Explore how nutrition and environmental factors influence our health.

On this course you’ll look at the importance of nutrition in human health and explore what happens to the body when it doesn’t receive the right nutrients. You will focus on malnutrition and obesity and how these contribute to the development of diseases, such as diabetes. Using research from the University of Leeds, you’ll learn how food can lead to ill health by carrying pathogens that cause food poisoning, or toxins linked with diseases such as cancer. You’ll then investigate environmental factors, including air pollution and its contribution to cardiovascular diseases.

What topics will you cover?

• The importance of vitamins and minerals for human health.
  
• Protein and Energy Malnutrition (PEM): the causes, and physical and physiological symptoms.
  
• Obesity: its presentation, causes and consequences.
  
• Food toxins and the risk to health.
  
• Contribution of environmental toxins and the association with human disease.
  
• Waterborne toxins and the impact on health.
  Air pollution and its contribution to cardiovascular diseases.

(CPD must not be older than three years prior to the exam)