Good nutrition can optimise health, and understanding how this is achieved is crucial for personal wellbeing and for those involved in the health, fitness and wellbeing industries. This short nutrition course is ideal for nutritionists, health food bloggers and wellness and fitness coaches, and explores the importance of human nutrition in health promotion and disease management.

Our Certificate of Food and Nutrition Disorders will teach you about nutrition and dental health, fibre and diseases of the bowel, vegan, vegetarian and alternative diets, and nutrition during pregnancy. You will also learn about food laws and labels, food allergies and sensitivities, detoxification and body cleansing, and how to set up a nutritional program.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a short nutrition course include:

• Learning about nutrient imbalance and disease
• Exploring food risk factors
• Gaining an understanding of important micronutrients that are often lacking in different diets
• Studying fats, lipids and cholesterol
• Examining low salt and low sodium diets
• Understanding sugar and the types of sugars and sweeteners
• Attaining knowledge of triglycerides and cholesterol
• Gaining an understanding of how PEM is diagnosed, treated, prevented and the prognosis for people with PEM
• Studying health problems and solutions
• Examining the special considerations for pregnant and nursing women and children
• Understanding dental problems, tooth structure, the anatomy of teeth and nutrition and dental health
• Attaining knowledge of fluoride intake, who needs fluoride and calcium intake
• Gaining insights into the decay process, how to prevent plaque and examples of simple sugars as food
• Learning about complex carbohydrates, nursing bottle syndrome and how to prevent dental problems
• Exploring the role of diet, reasons to prevent tooth decay and the causes of tooth decay
• Gaining an understanding of dental hygiene and homemade toothpastes and mouthwashes
• Studying fibre and the diseases of the bowel
• Examining fibre as a complex carbohydrate, how fibre works in the body and fibre in food
• Understanding health and dietary fibre, resistant starch and how the digestive system works
• Attaining knowledge of conditions linked to low fibre diets and fibre and the management of blood cholesterol
• Gaining insights into fibre and diabetes and fibre and weight control
• Learning about bowel checks and how to increase fibre intake
• Exploring different ways of eating
• Gaining an understanding how why how we eat is important and the compatibility of ingredients
• Studying incompatible and compatible combinations
• Examining vegetarian, vegan and other alternate diets
• Understanding the health considerations with non-animal diets
• Attaining knowledge of how to source non-animal foods
• Gaining insights into alternative diets for young children and diet in pregnancy
• Learning about food toxicity and sensitivity
• Attaining knowledge of food laws and labels and special considerations
• Gaining insights into food toxicity and food poisoning
• Learning about bacterial food poisoning and how to prevent it
• Exploring the characteristics and treatment of bacteria responsible for food poisoning
• Gaining an understanding of contamination from cooking and from food processing
• Studying preparation for cooking, food production and processing, milling and refining and the effects of food preparation on nutrition
• Examining enzymes, microorganisms, rotting and deterioration of food and additives, colourings and flavourings
• Understanding the ripening of fruit, mechanical deterioration, low temperature damage and hygiene to practice
• Attaining knowledge of detoxification, body cleansing and the methods of detoxification
• Gaining insights into fasting, the side effects and symptoms and water therapies
• Learning about herbal treatments, cathartics and herbsand remedies for digestive complaints and detoxification
• Exploring massage including Swedish massage and lymphatic drainage massage
• Gaining an understanding of bowel movements, urination and cautions
• Studying consulting/giving advice and legalities
• Examining insurance, professional bodies, ethics and holistic approaches
• Understanding the consultation, compliance and setting a nutritional program

And more!

National Food and Nutrition Policies

Poor diet is responsible for over seven per cent of Australia’s disease burden — an important statistic that highlights the value of a short nutrition course. The Australian Government’s Department of Health develops policies, resources and initiatives to help Australians eat a healthy and nutritious diet.

Policy work

The Department of Health’s National Preventative Health Strategy aims to help improve the health of Australians over the next ten years, including through a healthier diet. The Strategy provides a long-term and overarching approach to prevention by building systemic change to ensure the best outcomes for all Australians. It identifies areas of focus and outlines the key achievements Australia should be striving for by 2030.

Effective prevention requires a comprehensive and collective effort across sectors to “better prevent disease and to promoteenvironments that support individuals to lead healthy lives”. The responsibility for creating positive change is shared by all governments, the non-government sector, the private sector, academia and research, communities, industries and individuals. Every Australian and every sector has a role to play in achieving this vision.

The Department has also developed the Australian Dietary Guidelines, which helps Australians make healthy food choices.

Legislation

1. The national Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 aims to:

• protect public health and safety
• help Australians make informed choices about the food they eat
• prevent fraud and misleading conduct by food companies.

2. Imported food must meet strict requirements under the Biosecurity Act 2015 and Imported Food Control Act 1992 to ensure it is safe. Each state and territory also has its own legislation relating to food safety. The Health portfolio also administers laws on behalf of ministers, which are set out in the Administrative Arrangements Order.

Regulation and compliance

Food companies must adhere to the Food Standards Code when preparing, manufacturing, handling, storing and and serving of food and drinks.

All levels of government work together to protect people’s health and safety under the joint Australian and New Zealand food regulation system:

• Food ministers in Australia and New Zealand make food policy for both countries.
• Food Standards Australia New Zealand develops and sets food standards, which become part of state and territory legislation.
• State and territory governments enforce food laws in their jurisdiction.
• The Department of Agriculture enforces food and biosecurity laws for imported food.

Initiatives and programs

The Australian Government funds several programs and initiatives to help Australians make healthy food choices:

• The voluntary Health Star Ratingsystem rates the nutritional value of packaged foods from half a star to five stars. This enables people to quickly compare similar foods – the more stars, the healthier the food.
• Through the Healthy Food Partnership, it works with the food industry and the public health sector to make healthier food choices easier and more accessible.
• The Healthy Food Partnership Reformulation Program aims to reduce the amount of sodium, sugar and saturated fat in manufactured and processed foods.
• Eat for Healthcontains the Australian Dietary Guidelines, tips and advice on eating healthy, and resources to help people make healthy food choices.
• Nutrient Reference Valuesrecommends the level of nutrients we need to be healthy, based on scientific evidence.

Research

National research gives the Department insights into the eating habits of Australians and how they might affect health and wellbeing. This helps them develop food and nutrition programs and policies that are relevant and effective. National research includes the:

• National Health Survey – in 2018, over 21,000 people were surveyed about various aspects of their health, including their diet.
• Australian Health Survey – In 2014, the largest health survey ever was done in Australia.
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey – released in 2019, it surveyed one-third of all First Nations people about their health, including fruit and vegetable consumption.
• Growing up in Australia – This survey was a longitudinal study of over 10,000 Australian children.
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare analysis – Various studies have analysed nutrition across the life stages and poor diet among Australians.
• Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Study – the initial study was done in 2020 and looked at dietary behaviours as part of the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Study.
• Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuffs – this study reported the amount of food people buy, using sales data from certain stores, including retail stores, supermarkets and speciality food stores.

Other affiliations

To support healthy eating among all Australians, the Australian Government works with:

• The New Zealand Government to develop food policy for both countries.
• Food Standards Australia New Zealand, which develops and manages food standards, and manages food recalls.
• The National Measurement Institute, which administers the laws for selling food by weights and measures.
• The Department of Agriculture, which ensures that imported products meet strict biosecurity requirements and food standards.
• The state and territory governments, which enforce the food standards, in line with their food legislation.
• The National Health and Medical Research Council, including through Eat for Health, which contains the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
• The Australian Bureau of Statistics, which collects statistics about Australians’ diet
• The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which researches the eating habits of Australians.

Resources

There are a wide range of resources available that can assist all Australians make healthier food choices and provide valuable insights to those undertaking a short nutrition course. These include:

• The Australian Dietary Guidelines – recommend the types and amounts of food everyone should eat each day to be healthy.
• Get Up & Grow resources– to enable parents and early childhood workers to help the kids in their care eat healthily and be active.
• National Healthy School Canteens resources– to help schools make healthier food and drink choices for their canteens.

Gain insights into the importance of nutrition in maintaining optimum health and the management of disease with a short nutrition course such as our Certificate of Food and Nutrition Disorders