Nutrition Through the Life Cycle
Research
RESEARCH PAPER
This paper required the selection and research of a nutritional topic regarding a specific age span or stage of life. My paper was on the effect of maternal iron deficiency during pregnancy on infant health, and allowed for me to become more proficient in analyzing and interpreting peer-reviewed studies. I was very invested in my topic because it involved looking into the impacts of one person's diet affecting the dietary health in another person's life cycle.
NUTRITIONAL BIO-ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
This paper required the selection and research of the relationship of a specific vitamin or mineral and its role in regards to cardiovascular disease (CVD). This paper was difficult due to the challenging nature of designing human studies to measure the effects of vitamin deficiency. This paper explored the evidence currently available, and I learned how to design my own study to test my hypothesis. I chose Vitamin C and wanted to find out about its potential in preventing CVD. Writing this paper helped me to better understand the vital roles research, evidence-based practice, and bio-chemistry play within the realm of dietetics and nutrition.
Projects
The following projects were designed to give us "real-life" experience and enhance our skills, particularly in nutritional assessment and providing appropriate recommendations for improvement.
PREGNANCY
This project was divided into two parts. Part I involved finding a subject for the project, collecting information, analyzing her diet, and determining recommendations to provide. Part II required the presentation of the recommendations to the subject. I had a unique experience with this project due to the fact that my subject was pregnant with twins. This allowed for me to not only learn about the different dietary aspects of pregnancy but also gave me experience in researching and providing recommendations to a subject with unique or different needs in order to have a healthy pregnancy.
WELL-CHILD
Structured similarly to the Pregnancy Project, this assignment was focused on gaining experience with assessing and providing recommendations for the dietary needs of a young child. I spoke with the child's caregiver to collect information and performed the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) as part of my assessment, and provided my recommendations to the child's caregiver as the final part of the project. This project was meaningful to me because it helped me to realize the positive potential that teaching a providing proper dietary recommendations can have on the development of a child.