Feeding Behaviour and Nutritional Status of Populations

Principles for the analysis of dietary needs and for the elaboration of tailored diet plans. Dietary aspects of alimentation. The alimentary anamnesis tool. Elaboration of diet plans for healthy individuals. The use of sodium in meals. Water in diets, metabolic water and hydric balance. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Critical issues related to specific physiological conditions (childhood, adolescence, pregnancy, breastfeeding, menopause, and elderly). Prevention and dietetic treatment of malnutrition in elderly individuals. Alimentary education: aims, strategies, WHO actions for NCDs prevention and control; National Plan of Prevention and nutritional survey system in Italy. DIETOTHERAPY: prevention and dietetic treatment of digestive system disorders (reflux, dyspepsia, meteorism, constipation). Diet and Mediterranean gastronomy in disease prevention. Tutorials of applied dietetics: rational use of food composition tables and LARN for nutritional evaluation and elaboration of dietetic plans.
Models for the description of body composition. Five-level model and patterns of body compartmentation. The reference man. Relationships among compartments at different organization levels. Use of regression analysis in the development of predictive equations. Reference methods in body composition assessment. Direct and indirect methods. Laboratory and field methods. Hydrodensitometry, air plethysmography, hydrometry and dilution methods, dual-energy X-ray densitometry (DEXA). Direct methods for Na and K determination. In vivo neutron activation analysis (IVNA). Bioimpedentiometry and bioimpedance vector analysis (BIVA). Computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectrometry (MRS). Anthropometry and plicometry. Methods for the assessment of energy expenditure. Components of energy expenditure: basal metabolism, diet-induced thermogenesis, activity-induced thermogenesis. Direct calorimetry, and indirect calorimetry methods. Non-calorimetric methods. Doubly labelled water methods. Podometry and accelerometry. Metabolic holters. Methods for the assessment of energy intake. 24-h recall, alimentary diary, and food frequency questionnaire. Energy needs and human evolution. Metabolic adaptation to physical activity.