Free Self-Paced Course
Nutrition Science
9 Weeks · 291 Sections · Science — Nutrition & Dietetics
This free, self-paced course provides a structured 9-week syllabus for learning Nutrition Science. Each module builds on the previous one, guiding you from foundational concepts through advanced topics with 291 pages of in-depth reading material. All content is drawn from our comprehensive Nutrition Science textbook, organized into a clear weekly schedule that you can follow at your own pace.
Weekly Syllabus
- Part I — Foundations
- Chapter 1 — Why Is Nutrition So Confusing? How Bad Science, Bad Media, and Bad Incentives Created a World of Dietary Chaos
- Chapter 2 — How to Read Nutrition Research: Study Design, Confounders, Correlation vs. Causation, and Why Most Headlines Are Wrong
- Chapter 3 — Digestion: From Mouth to Bloodstream — How Your Body Breaks Down, Absorbs, and Uses Food
- Chapter 4 — Energy Balance: Calories In vs. Calories Out — Why It's Fundamentally True and Why It's Not the Whole Story
- Chapter 5 — Metabolism: BMR, TDEE, the Thermic Effect of Food, and Why Your Metabolism Is Not "Broken"
- Chapter 6 — Inside the Cell: Metabolic Pathways Without the Biochemistry Degree
- Part III — Micronutrients
- Chapter 13 — Vitamins: What Each One Does, Where to Get It, Who's Actually Deficient, and When Supplements Help vs. When They're Expensive Urine
- Chapter 14 — Minerals: Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Selenium, Iodine — The Essential Elements and Their Real-World Deficiency Patterns
- Chapter 15 — Water and Hydration: How Much You Actually Need (It's Not 8 Glasses), Electrolytes, and the Overhydration Nobody Talks About
- Chapter 16 — Supplements: The $50 Billion Industry Built on Hope — What Works, What Doesn't, and What's Dangerous
- Part IV — Myths and Debates
- Chapter 17 — Myth-Busting: Detoxes, Cleanses, Superfoods, and the Claims That Sound Good but Aren't Supported by Evidence
- Chapter 18 — The Sugar Debate: Is Sugar Toxic? Added vs Natural, Fructose, and What the Evidence Supports
- Chapter 19 — The Seed Oil Debate: Omega-6, Inflammation, Oxidation, and What Actually Changed
- Chapter 20 — Organic, GMO, and Clean Eating: Residues, Consensus, and the Difference Between Presence and Dose
- Chapter 21 — Intermittent Fasting: Protocols, Autophagy, Circadian Timing, and What Happens When You Match the Calories
- Chapter 22 — ★ Ultra-Processed Food: What the Ward Trial Showed, and What Part IV Was Actually About
- Part V — Nutrition for Life Stages and Goals
- Chapter 23 — Sports Nutrition: Fuelling, Timing, Recovery, and the Five Supplements That Work
- Chapter 24 — Weight Management: Why Maintenance Is the Hard Part, and What Actually Changed
- Chapter 25 — Nutrition Across the Lifespan: Pregnancy, Childhood, Midlife, and the Inversion
- Chapter 26 — Nutrition and Chronic Disease: Which Numbers Respond to Food, and by How Much
- Chapter 27 — Gut Health and the Microbiome: What Sequencing Can Tell You, and What It Can't
- Chapter 28 — Food Allergies and Intolerances: Six Mechanisms, One Word, and the Tests That Don't Work
- Chapter 29 — ★ Clinical Nutrition: When Food Becomes Treatment, and When Feeding Can Kill
How to Use This Syllabus
- Read at your own pace. Each module is designed for roughly one week of study, but there are no deadlines. Spend as much time as you need on each topic.
- Follow in order or jump around. The modules are arranged sequentially for a structured learning path, but feel free to skip to any topic that interests you most.
- No sign-up needed. Every page in this syllabus links directly to free, open-access content. Just click a topic and start reading immediately.
Ready to Start Learning?
Access the full Nutrition Science textbook with all chapters, examples, and exercises.
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