Causes of Human Disease: Nutrition and Environment

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.

The course is suitable for anyone with a general interest in the science behind causes of human disease and medicine. No previous knowledge or experience is required. If you are working in nursing, healthcare or social care or just wish to learn more about it, this course is designed to support you as a professional. By completing all aspects of the course you will have achieved 14 hours of CPD time.

• Food and nutrition
• Welcome
• Malnutrition and disease
• Obesity and disease
• Food safety and disease
• Revision
• Summary
• Environmental exposures
• About Week 2
• Environmental factors and disease
• Waterborne toxins and disease
• Air pollution and disease
• Revision
• Summary