This course is an introduction to nutrition constituting a platform enabling the student to specialize in both animal and human nutrition. It also formulates the platform for further studies of specific feed/food types and feed/food technology. The course is broad in this sense, and may be divided into 3 sub-topics: 1. Nutrients and their role in bodily functions, including nutritonal energetics. 2. Intake, digestion, absorption and metabolism of nutrients (inlcuding energy catabolism). 3. Evaluation of nutritional quality of various feeds/foods, including nutrient availability. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding relationships between the different sub-topics.

Main aims: To acquire fundamental knowledge of the macro and micro nutrients, their chemical structure, characteristics, nutrient value, digestion and main functions in the body. The student will also acquire fundamental knowledge of feed/food types, main feed sources and principles for their evaluation. Partial aims: After finishing the course the students should be able to explain structure, classification and properties of the main nutrients, and why it is important to understand the composition of the food. In addition, the students should be able to explain digestion and absorption of the main nutrients, the minerals and the vitamins, in addition to intermiediary metabolism of substrates from the digestion process, characteristics of the digestive tract, and principles for evaluation of ingrediens and rations/diettary regimes. 

Teaching will be performed in three different ways: 1. Lectures summarizing and complementing the course literature. 2. Assignments in groups and individually, and 3. seminars with student presentations. Students within food and health will participate in group work/seminars related specifically to human nutrition, and will not participate in the 10 percent lectures specifically related to animal nutrition.

Physiology (HFX201).

Biochemistry (KJB200).

Participation in all part exams, in addition to the final exam, is obligatory. In addition, participation in student presentations during seminars is obligatory.

During the course there will be two part-examinations based on the questions of the exercises of the three subsections nutrients, digestion and intermediate metabolism. Each part-examination will be graded and account for 15% of the total grade. The course will end with a final written examination of 3 hours which counts 70%. The student must pass all part-examinations in order to sit in for the final examination.

250 hours.

Special requirements in Science

AKE251/ AQN251 - 10 credits.

Structured teaching time will be roughly divided as follows: Lectures: 4 hours per week (total 50 hours). Group tutorials/seminar: 2 hours per week (total 22 hours).

Students should be aware that extra work will be required if they have not taken Biochemistry (KJB200) or equivalent. The course literature is in English (see below). In addition, lectures and exercises may also be in English.

An external examiner participates in the formulation of examination questions and in the weighting of these. The examiner will also assess a random selection of the examinations.