Gut Microbiome in Nutrition and Health

Knowledge:

By completing the course, the student will be able to:

• Explain how food is digested and absorbed throughout the gastrointestinal tract
• Describe and explain how diet shapes the gut microbiota composition, functionality and metabolism in infants, adults and elderly
• Describe how food is metabolized by the gut microbiota into small molecules and explain how microbes and molecules are sensed by the human body
• Describe different mechanisms by which the gut microbiome may be linked to disease and health
• Describe formal scientific demands for placing a health claim on foods and regulations for microbiome solutions

Skills:

• Identify gaps in existing knowledge in the field of gut microbiome and nutrition and propose studies for investigating diet-microbiome interactions; hereunder choose relevant scientific methods for evaluating effects of diet/food component intervention on the gut microbiome.
• Ability to see opportunities and discuss challenges for translating existing knowledge into future sustainable and innovative therapeutic and nutritional products that target the gut microbiome and thereby modulate health
• Communicate (orally, in writing and through visual presentation) topics concerning the gut microbiome in nutrition.

Competences:

• Independently retrieve and critically evaluate information from scientific papers concerning the gut microbiome in nutrition
• Critical compare, evaluate and discuss different strategies for modulating the gut microbiome
• Work independently and efficiently together in a team on a joint project focusing on aspects of the gut microbiome and nutrition.
• Pitch and present diet-microbiome-health concepts to professionals.