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WageningenX: Nutrition, Heart Disease and Diabetes

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Discover the latest insights on the importance of nutrition and lifestyle in the development and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus in the online open course Nutrition, Heart disease and Diabetes.

You will learn about current progress in research on diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other cardiometabolic disorders and you will discover how these cardiometabolic diseases can be prevented in individuals and populations through lifestyle and dietary modifications.

Nutrition, Heart Disease and Diabetes
5 weeks
6–8 hours per week
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
This course is archived
Future dates to be announced

About this course

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Learn about the role of nutrition in relation to diseases of the circulatory system and diabetes, which are major causes of death worldwide. You'll learn about the etiology of heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, stroke, other forms of cardiovascular diseases and how often these occur worldwide. You will learn about biological modifiable risk factors, such as blood pressure, blood cholesterol and obesity, and how they impact these diseases in a different way. After completing this course you will also have gained adeeper insight in underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, such as insulin resistance, and the role of (epi)genetic factors.

Dieticians and doctors often get questions from their patients on what they can do to improve their health. In this course,part of the Professional Certificate Program Nutrition and Disease, you will learn about the interaction between nutrients, diets and cardiometabolic disease (heart disease and diabetes).

For whom?

The MOOC Nutrition and Disease: Nutrition, Heart Disease and Diabetes is especially valuable for professionals (in training) from various disciplines related to nutrition and health, e.g. nutritionists, epidemiologists, public health workers, physicians, health care professionals, health policy makers, nutrition educators, biologists, and food scientists.

This course, is part of theNutrition and Disease Professional Certificate Program of Wageningen University & Research. Did you already complete Nutrition and Cancer? That is the other course in this Professional Certificate Program.

At a glance

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated programs:
  • Associated skills:Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Biology, Insulin Resistance, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 Diabetes, Public Health, Blood Pressure, Disease Etiology, Health Policies

What you'll learn

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  • Understand the role of dietary factors in the occurrence, progression and treatment of cardiometabolic diseases
  • Understand the biological processes that contribute to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic disorders
  • Guidelines for primary prevention
  • The role of epigenetics and genetic factors
  • The interaction between nutrients, diets and cardiometabolic disease

Module 1 – Cardiometabolic Disease Risk
In this module you will be introduced to the different types of cardiometabolic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Furthermore both biological and environmental risk factors for these diseases such as age, blood pressure and physical exercise will be presented.

Module 2 – Role of diet – Prevention of Cardiometabolic Disease
The role of macronutrient and food intake in relation to cardiometabolic disease prevention will be presented in this module. You will gain knowledge about the importance and development of dietary guidelines for the prevention of disease.

Module 3 – Pathophysiology of Cardiometabolic Disease
Learn about the pathophysiology and processes that contribute to the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Amongst others, insulin resistance, adipose tissue, inflammation, blood lipids and ischemia and reperfusion injury will be discussed.

Module 4 – Molecular Aspects
In this module you will learn about genetic and epigenetic practices in relation to nutrition and cardiometabolic diseases including EWAS, GWAS, diet-gene interactions, DNA methylation and Mendelian Randomisation.

Module 5 – Nutritional Strategies to Reduce Cardiometabolic Diseases
This final module describes some directions for reducing the burden of cardiometabolic diseases. Several dietary patterns, the focus of future scientific research and actions of different stakeholders are discussed.

Learner testimonials

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"In this course I did not only learn content, but it also draws your eye towards being critical about published research and developing other skills.”

''This course is amazing, I have learned a lot a big thank u to this course. Subject is very good and explanation is amazing. I will follow another topic also in this course.''

''This course is well planned, and intelligently structured to suit beginners in the field of nutrition as well as professionals. Study well is the key to success, because you will have to deal with serious matter.''

Frequently Asked Questions

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Do you have questions about the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and/or related online programmes of Wageningen University & Research? To help you find answers to your questions, we created a list with frequently asked questions about enrolling, participating in- and finishing a MOOC.

This course is part of Nutrition and Disease Professional Certificate Program

Learn more 
Expert instruction
2 skill-building courses
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
3 months
6 - 8 hours per week

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