Nutritional Epidemiology

The course will address methodological aspects involved in the design, conduct, analysis and interpretation of nutritional epidemiological research. Topics include; intra-individual variation, measurement of error, misclassification, correlated variables, population homogeneity, dietary assessment, validity/reproducibility of dietary assessment, nutritional biomarkers, dietary guidelines and analysis issues as energy adjustment methods and dietary pattern analyses. These topics will be covered during lectures, practical assignments, computer practicals and seminars offered online using the Elevate Online Learning Platform.

At the end of this course, the student is able to:

• Explain the basic design considerations for nutritional epidemiologic research.
• Name sources of variation in the diet.
• Explain different methods of dietary assessment and their advantages/ disadvantages for different study designs.
• Explain the reproducibility and validity of different dietary assessment methods.
• Use of nutrition composition tables.
• Use of dietary biomarkers to assess dietary exposure .
• Explain different methods to adjust for energy intake and their utilization.
• Use different methods to perform dietary pattern analyses.
• Locate sources of measurement error in dietary data and apply different methods to correct these errors
• Adjust nutrient intake for total energy intake and perform dietary pattern analyses.
• Design a nutritional epidemiological study.

Our courses are aimed at clinical researchers, nurses, general practitioners, and other health professionals who want to improve their skills in epidemiology, statistics and (clinical) research.

1 week, fulltime

This course is offered once every two years. The next course will take place in the academic year 2025-2026.

However please note that the face to face version of this course is offered in April 2025.