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Risk-benefit assessment of foods: methods for quantifying health effects


Technical University of Denmark


General course objectives:
After the course, the participants will be able to critically select and apply the data and methods needed to compare and quantify adverse and beneficial human health effects of food and to critically evaluate the results of a risk-benefit assessment of foods

Learning objectives:
A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
  • Identify the main steps of a risk-benefit assessment
  • Apply the relevant terminology in risk-benefit assessment
  • Select and apply methods to evaluate and calculate the adverse and beneficial impact of foods on health based on knowledge from the underlying disciplines
  • Compare the methodologies of risk assessment in microbiology, toxicology, and nutrition, and identify main differences and commonalities
  • Explain the differences between the bottom-up (risk assessment) approach and the top-down approach
  • Discuss how results from risk assessment in microbiology and toxicology, and results from risk and benefit assessment in nutrition can be integrated into one assessment
  • Apply DALY calculations
  • Identify the uncertainties in a risk-benefit assessment
  • Evaluate the (quantitative) output of a risk-benefit assessment
  • Evaluate the application, communication and management of risk-benefit assessment in foods

Contents:
The course provides an introduction to risk-benefit assessment of foods, with an emphasis on methods to quantify the human health impact of food intake. It takes a multidisciplinary approach, introducing methods from epidemiology, toxicological and microbiological risk assessment and nutrition. The participants will be guided through the methodology and the different challenges associated to risk-benefit assessment of foods and the quantification of the human health impact of food intake. This will be done by individual and group work on a case study, combined with lectures and self-studying. The case study will be implemented in an Excel workbook and the Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) will be used as a common health metric to express disease burden. With this ”hands-on” process, the course participant will gain an understanding of the different steps of a risk-benefit assessment. Teachers with different backgrounds will contribute to the course, emphasizing the multidisciplinary approach. In agreement with the teachers, there may be an opportunity for PhD students to develop a special follow-up course where they perform a risk-benefit assessment in conjunction with their own research project.

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Course organizer
Sara
Place/Venue
Anker Engelunds Vej 1
City
2800 Kgs. Lyngby
Country
Denmark
Workload
3.5
Link
http://kurser.dtu.dk/course/23839