In the modern world, our diet is directly related to our health, and it’s important to have a balanced nutrition. Food and nutrition is the study of food and nutrition to suggest the right way to eat, with the goal of promoting health and preventing disease. It contributes to improving people’s quality of life.
Clothing is one of the three essential elements of human life. Clothing protects us and helps us adapt to our environment, and shelter provides rest and safety. However, food is even more important because it is directly related to sustaining life. This is especially true in the modern world, where food goes beyond just filling our stomachs and is closely linked to our health.
Moreover, the abundance and variety of food in today’s dietary landscape, both in terms of quantity and quality, demands a balanced dietary approach that does not skew toward either undernutrition or overnutrition. Whereas in the past, the problem was mainly about making up for nutrient deficiencies, nowadays, a variety of problems arise from excessive nutrient intake. As a result, people are no longer only concerned about how much they eat, but also how they eat.
In addition, there are many chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, etc. that are the most important risk factors for modern health problems. That’s why it’s important for people to make the right food choices based on sound scientific knowledge. If poor dietary habits continue, they can lead to various health problems as we age, so it is essential to take preventive measures. Therefore, the importance of healthy eating has become a topic that should be actively addressed at the national and societal levels, not just at the individual level.
Therefore, the Department of Food and Nutrition studies people’s dietary habits through food and nutrition, and uses the research results to develop new food materials, create a new food culture, prevent diseases, promote health, and improve people’s quality of life. For example, in recent years, advances in food science have led to the emergence of a variety of health-conscious foods. Low-calorie, high-protein, and functional foods are the result of food nutrition research and play an important role in protecting the health of modern people.
The discipline of food and nutrition can be divided into three main areas: food, nutrition, and food service.
In the field of food science, students study food chemistry, food microbiology, food processing and storage, and food hygiene. Food chemistry deals with the structure, properties, reactions, and functional properties of water, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, and pigments, which are common components of food, and the characteristics of various food enzymes contained in the tissues of natural foods and their effects on food quality. The study of food chemistry is primarily focused on the scientific understanding of how the foods we eat work in the body. It is fundamental to healthy eating and provides fundamental answers to the question of what and how we should eat.
Food microbiology covers the causes, symptoms, and prevention of microbial spoilage, microbial fermentation of food, and food poisoning from bacterial and mold poisons. Fermented foods using microorganisms have been an important part of our food culture since ancient times. The health benefits of traditional Korean fermented foods such as kimchi, miso, and gochujang are widely recognized. However, in addition to these traditional fermented foods, research on functional fermented foods is also being actively conducted, and it is expected that our food culture will become more diverse in the future.
Food processing and storage covers microorganisms, enzymes, and oxidation reactions of food components as causes of spoilage of stored food, and covers storage principles and storage techniques such as refrigeration, freezing, drying, canning, and irradiation of food. These advances in food storage methods allow for long-term food preservation, and the rapid urbanization and globalization of modern society has made food distribution and storage increasingly important.
Food hygiene also covers bacterial food poisoning, parasites, oral infectious diseases, pollution and contamination of food, food additives, and food hygiene administration and food hygiene laws and regulations as health hazards that are introduced during the production, harvesting, processing, and handling of food. Especially with the increasing focus on food safety, legal regulations and management systems for food hygiene are becoming more important, and food hygiene is responsible for studying and improving these systems.
The field of nutrition, unlike food science, studies the effects of nutrients in food on the human body when it is consumed. It focuses on understanding how the nutrients in the foods we eat every day are utilized by the body and how they affect us, so that we can make nutritional recommendations for each individual.
Basic Nutrition covers carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, including their classification, structure, physiological actions, metabolism, requirements, deficiencies, and foods, while Human Physiology comprehensively covers the basic concepts of life support: homeostasis of the body’s internal environment and the structure and function of organ systems. Other courses include Life Cycle Nutrition, which studies nutritional characteristics and nutritional needs, nutritional problems and solutions, dietary management, and nutritional practices throughout the life cycle, and Dietetics and Laboratory, which studies the physiological and biochemical changes caused by major diseases and learns how to manage diet to help prevent and treat them.
While food and nutrition is the primary area of study in the Department of Food and Nutrition, the field of food service is also becoming increasingly important. The field of catering requires a basic knowledge of food science and nutrition, as it usually involves practical applications such as fieldwork. This is because large-scale group feeding plays an increasingly important role in modern society. The quality of group meals provided in schools, hospitals, corporations, and the military directly affects the health of many people, making food service management increasingly important.
The overall goal of the Department of Food and Nutrition is to improve the quality of life by helping people eat right. The impact of what we eat every day on our health and happiness is not something to be taken lightly. In the future, food and nutrition research will play an important role in further improving our quality of life by leading the development of new food cultures and food industries, beyond just health.
