Welcome to the Fundamentals of Human 
Nutrition. 
I'm your instructor and I'm excited to 
guide you through this course and help 
you learn the basics of human nutrition 
and nutritional science. 
When it comes to the science of 
nutrition, we are what we eat. 
In this course, you'll learn exactly what 
that means and how nutrition drives 
growth and development, as well as 
sustains life. 
We'll look primarily at the biochemical 
concepts of nutrition, but we'll review 
how malnutrition is related to disease. 
Think about this word, malnutrition. 
Maybe the first image that comes to mind 
is that of a starving child failing to 
thrive. 
But malnutrition is more than that. 
Mal or bad, poor improper nutrition can 
manifest in many ways, and have many 
causes. 
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies, protein 
imbalances, nutrient toxicities, excess 
intake, malabsorption, or 
overelimination, nutrient storage or 
processing abnormalities, and even 
genetic mutations and polymorphism can 
all be contributors to malnutrition. 
In addition to conditions like marasmus 
and kwashiorkor, we can consider 
diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, 
and obesity as related to malnutrition. 
Diseases like rickets, osteoporosis 
Beriberi, pellegra, and anemia are 
manifestations of micronutrient 
malnutrion. 
Even toxicity diseases like 
hemochromatosis are caused by excess 
intake, or by impaired processing can be 
considered a form of malnutrition. 
When we think about preventing and 
treating malnutrition, it may just be a 
matter of what you do or do not need to 
eat. 
But, it may be a person to person 
challenge, especially when you're dealing 
with genetic conditions or compounding 
diseases. 
In this course, you'll gain a better 
understanding of how one might get to the 
malnourished state, why we need the 
nutrients we do, and how balanced 
nutrition fuels the body while chronic 
malnutrition leads to disease. 
I'll also discuss how we inform the 
public as to what they need to eat and 
how we determine specific requirements. 
Nutrition is an integral part of the life 
of any organism, from the simple to the 
complex. 
When we focus on human nutrition, we'll 
see how the addition of our minds and 
cultures play a role in what we eat. 
We do not all only eat to survive as our 
animal co-inhabitants. 
In addition, the food we're eating, both 
plant and animal in origin, depends on 
what it eats. 
The nutrients it recieves, processes, or 
is able to synthesize. 
We'll use various learning tools 
throughout the course to give you 
opportunities to learn from me, the 
course material, related content, as well 
as from each other. 
One tool that will serve to both teach 
you and assess your understanding of each 
topic we cover and how these tie together 
is the mind map. 
Within the fundamentals of human 
nutrition, we will learn about the 
macronutrients, the micronutrients, their 
categories, and components. 
We'll discuss metabolism, including the 
processing, utilization, and elimination 
of what we eat. Malnutrition, whether 
from a lack of eating properly or from 
problems in the body, and nutrition over 
the lifespan. 
We'll go into the details and 
complexities of the nutritional model. 
But at the core of all of this, I'll keep 
reminding you, we are what we eat. 
And you'll get a chance to fill in the 
details as you go through this course. 
I hope you enjoy this course. 
And not only learn about the science of 
nutrition, finish your mind map, but are 
able to use this information in your own 
life and work, as well as helping and 
educating others.