Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Westminster College Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Westminster College Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

SCI 105 - Understanding Science: Food and Health

Semester Hours: 4

What we eat and drink is fundamental to our health. However, when it comes information about the relationship between food and health, it’s often difficult to know what to believe. Do some foods really cause cancer? Is there any reason to take a vitamin every day? Do green tea and red wine actually help prevent heart disease? What can we eat to reduce the risk of dementia? Will a gluten-free diet help you lose weight? Are antioxidants and probiotics truly effective? Anyone looking for guidance from newspapers, magazine, and web sites will often find conflicting information. Even advice from medical professionals is not always consistent. This course is designed to reveal the source of that confusion and to demonstrate why we should be skeptical of medical claims in nonscientific sources. More importantly, it will help students learn how to evaluate the results of scientific studies, to get accurate information about relationships between food and health that they can use to make informed decisions about their diet.