Clinical Nutrition

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL Studies
Compares disease rates among population groups and attempts to identify related conditions/behaviors (ex. Diet and exercise)

Examples:

•  observation of scurry in sailors’
•  observation of low rate of breast cancer in Japanese
  

Shows correlation (relationships between diet and disease) but not causation (the actual reason for the observation)

ANIMAL STUDIES (Filter to animal)

• Used as a starting point to help explain a hypotheses
• Used because human studies are difficult to conduct and expensive
• Must be followed-up with cell or human studies to verify findings because animals are differently physically and mental than humans

CELL CULTURE STUDIES (Search “Cell culture” or “cell culture techniques”)

• Specific human body cells are isolated and grown in a laboratory
• Study the effects of nutrients on cell processes
• Nutrigenomics
  • The science of how genes, diet and disease interact to create health problems
  • Certain genes determine susceptibility to disease
  • Certain foods turn disease susceptibility genes on or off
  • Knowing family genetic tendencies helps determine best diet for the individual
  • Part of biochemical individuality

HUMAN STUDIES

• Case Control Studies
  • Small-scale epidemiological study
  • 2 closely-matching groups (age, gender, race)
  • One group has the health condition (ex. Diabetes) being examined, the other does not
  • Identify the factors (ex. Vegetable consumption) that differ between the groups
  • Provides clues about cause and prevention of disease
• Clinical Trials
  • Researchers make a change (ex. Diet or exercise) and study the effects
  • Two subject groups: Experimental (people are given or make the change) and Control (similar people are not given or make the change)
  • Health and disease differences are measured between the two groups