Micro-Course Catalog
Micro-Courses are free, bite-sized video courses that feature Friedman faculty discussing current trends and topics in food and nutrition. If you would like to learn more about each individual Micro-Course, information is available below. For access to our Micro-Courses, please fill out the form and you'll receive access to your selected course.
Course Description:
Food system sustainability: What is it and why does it matter? In this course you will be introduced to the three pillars of sustainability, which include environmental, economic, and social components. You will also consider the cross-cutting concepts of resilience, justice and equity, that don’t neatly fit under the three pillars, but are nevertheless critical to all of them.
Course Duration: 21 Minutes
Course Instructor:
Course Description:
In a time of widespread chronic disease related to nutrition, it’s important to have access to affordable healthy food. When setting food-related benefits for low-income Americans, what determines the maximum monthly allowance provided by federal social safety net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)? In this course you will reflect on the complexity of each factor that goes into establishing this cost, including healthfulness, taste/preference, home-cooking, and retail access to high quality food.
Course Duration: 27 Minutes
Course Instructor:
Course Description:
Can low-income people around the globe afford the foods that would provide them a healthy and sustainable diet? In this course, you will consider what we can learn from food prices and markets about the cost and affordability of going beyond just calories alone to meet national dietary guidelines for all of the essential nutrients needed to sustain health. You will also learn how helping governments measure these costs might guide programs to reduce food insecurity and make a healthy and sustainable diet affordable to all.
Course Duration: 23 Minutes
Course Instructor:
Course Description:
How does diet affect the immune system? The relationship between nutritional status, the immune response and susceptibility to infections is complex. Several factors, including food insecurity, obesity, and aging, can impact this relationship. In this course you will learn the role vitamins C, D, E, and the mineral zinc, play in the immune response. Scientific evidence of their effects, as well as information specific to COVID-19, will be presented.
Course Duration: 33 Minutes
Course Instructor:
Course Description:
Dietary Supplements: What are they, what do they do, and who should take them? In this course, you will take a look at how dietary supplements are regulated. You will then delve into the scientific evidence on how certain supplements, including multivitamins, fish oil, and vitamin E may affect human health. Information on their advantages and limitations, as well as the circumstances under which certain people might consider taking them, will also be presented.
Course Duration: 1 Hour
Course Instructor:
Jeffrey B. Blumberg | Research Professor, Professor Emeritus
Course Description:
Why should we all care about food and nutrition? Diet quality is now the single leading cause of poor health on the planet, including chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, cancers, heart disease, stroke, undernutrition, and many other conditions. When you put all these diet-related illnesses together, it is the single biggest issue for rising healthcare costs. Yet, in all the debates about health care spending and costs, food and nutrition aren’t mentioned. If we address the science that we have and address the policy that is needed, then we can make a difference. In this course, you will be presented with four big-picture lessons on how nutrition science impacts public policy and health.
Course Duration: 1 Hour
Course Instructor:
Course Description:
When people want to eat healthier, and know what to do, why is it that they often end up not doing it? In this course, you will look at this question through a psychological lens and explore one specific explanation called dual process models or being “of two minds.” These models often help explain why sometimes when people are motivated, and they really want to do something, they just can’t seem to do it.
Course Duration: 50 minutes
Course Instructor:
Course Description:
What are sustainable diets? In this course, you will be introduced to the relevant terms and goals related to the food system. You will also explore current efforts and perspectives across different sectors including private businesses, non-profits or advocacy organizations, and governments, and learn how they’re all linked to the health implications of your diet.
Course Duration: 35 minutes
Course Instructor:
