Brain and Gut Microbiome

Discover different professional opportunities in the health and wellness space and make an informed decision about your career with a 360° showcase of what The Health Sciences Academy has to offer. The Academic Tour brings all our important resources to one place – including certification summaries of our 14 advanced specialisations, corresponding webinars, demo modules, curricula, career opportunities, career strategy assessment, complimentary nutrition career review, free courses, and lots more – so you can get the clarity you need to shape your future as a nutrition leader.

In this advanced certification students learn how to, Perform child-health risk assessments, including key nutrient deficiencies, brain function, reading and writing, and diet-related hyperactivity symptoms. Use the systems of The Health Sciences Academy to track if a child is growing as they should or not (and what to do about it). Use science-based nutrient formulas adjusted for boys and girls, age, metabolism, and activity. Leverage our step-by-step frameworks to build a personalised child nutrition program. Identify the risks of obesity and diabetes, which factors lead to unhealthy fat gain, the role of inherited genes, and apply strategies to achieve a healthier body weight.

This hands-on training is aimed at developing and practising your clinical nutrition skills, including training and feedback on the preparation of a client case study and on your client session delivery.

This online training course includes 19 modules on different aspects of weight loss and will enable a practitioner to educate and appraise their client’s weight loss goals in line with balanced nutritional requirements.

This online training course examines dietary supplements and their efficacy and will enable an advisor to assess and guide their clients on a balanced lifestyle.

This 56-unit certification will help you to understand how to support woman, and their partner, in boosting fertility odds. You’ll uncover the science behind the menstrual cycle and the changes that women go through each month which prepare their bodies to have a child. Then, we’ll dive into tracking and analysing your client’s cycles in order to help her to understand the most optimal time (her fertile window) when she is more likely to conceive. Plus, we’ll be looking at 6 Fertility Nutrition Principles, which factors may be reducing odds of conception and which may support it. Not only will we look at each of these 6 principles and their role in female fertility, but we’ll also briefly examine how they may impact male fertility as well.

This 74-unit certification will help you to understand the science behind food allergies and intolerance how they differ around the world examining symptoms and physiological reactions, and understanding how a medical doctor may test for them. We’ll cover the top food allergies and intolerances in depth but also look at some other less common ones. This practical course will take you through the process of identifying which foods a client may react to how to eliminate those foods safely minimising nutrient deficiency risk and how to reintroduce foods to a tolerable levels in those clients with a food intolerance (this is not done in those with an allergy).

This 79-unit certification will help you to understand the gut, the bacteria and virus that live in the digestive system, how these organisms interact with the body, and how to keep this in balance. It includes an in-depth look at the gut, discovering what “leaky gut” really means, and learning how the gut is connected to the brain. Then we’ll dive into the 4R gut restoration program, concentrating on nutritional changes, but we’ll also cover the importance of sleep, physical activity, and stress. Plus, we´ll also be exploring how to undertake an elimination diet without increasing risk of nutrient deficiencies.

This certification explores the types of plant-forward diets, diving into the main reasons why individuals choose to follow this dietary approach. Then, we’ll take you through each of the 10 levels in the 10-Level Plant-Forward Framework, so you can help a client no matter what their plant-forward goal. We’ll investigate not only how to support health and reduce risk of nutrient deficiencies, but also the environmental and planetary impacts at each Level. We’ll also explore being plant-based at different life stages, disordered eating risks, kitchen and shopping skills, communication methods, and even more.

This 33-unit certification will help you to look to the scientific literature to answer both your own nutrition questions and those from clients. This certification will take you step by step from having your own research question, identifying your search terms and knowing which scientific search engine to go to, to reading and critiquing scientific papers. Plus, we'll also be examining how to spot when nutrition news headlines and articles may be stretching the truth, and when Wikipedia can be a good tool (and when to leave it to the side).

Enhance your professional opportunities by gaining a deep insight into why we have skin, the role of nutrients for skin health (based on the science of nutritional dermatology), fundamentals of skin procedures, and common ingredients found in skincare products.

This 45-unit certification will help you to understand the importance of quantity, quality, and consistency of sleep. You´ll uncover the science behind the why we sleep, what happens when we don´t get enough, and learn the fundamentals of the major sleep disorders. Plus, you will learn which factors in the environment can be adjusted to help your client to fall asleep and stay asleep giving you the knowledge to build a personalised science-based sleep program for your client.

This online training course provides knowledge on sports and exercise nutrition that will support a client’s fitness goals.

This 84-unit certification will help you to recognise the benefits of stress (eustress) compared to when it may be lower productivity and cognitive functioning (distress). You’ll be getting a in-depth look at the physiological changes which occur within the body when we are feeling overwhelmed or anxious, and learn why it’s important to be able to recognise these changes. Plus, we’ll be covering several ways to help a client when they can feel they are lagging behind and unable to cope in addition to methods to help build stress resilience.

Can alkaline pH diets prevent bone loss? What happens if our blood gets too acidic? Which foods are commonly avoided by those on an ‘alkaline diet’? What's metabolic acidosis and what causes it? What's metabolic acidosis and what causes it?

Can alkaline pH diets prevent bone loss? What happens if our blood gets too acidic? Which foods are commonly avoided by those on an ‘alkaline diet’? What’s metabolic acidosis and what can cause it?

Why do we seem to lose weight, just to put it back on again so soon? Are some of us genetically predisposed to obesity? Why do obese individuals continue to overeat? Why might we engage in compensatory eating after periods of deprivation? Are we doomed by a ''set point'' weight - or is this just a theory?

Do artificial sweetener cause weight gain? Could they really be hindering our dieting efforts? Is our good gut bacteria being killed off by artificial sweeteners? Are zero-calorie sweeteners making us hungrier?

Learn how to coach clients with skills and tools drawn from behaviour change research, health psychology, positive psychology, and lifestyle medicine research. This comprehensive video training across 24 modules is packed with practical coaching techniques taught and demonstrated by Alex Ruani (NBC-HWC), including coaching practice exercises, role cards, coachee case studies, and client materials. This evidence-based training shows you an abundance of coaching scenarios, scripts, and approaches you can directly apply with clients as you learn them. By the end of this training, you will have an arsenal of coaching skills that will help enrich your daily client work.

How does our brain make food decisions?  Who or what is to blame for our poor food choices? Could our subconscious be sabotaging our best efforts? How might we be able to convince our brains to make better decisions?

Could our chronotype be making us fat? How is our weight affected when our biological clocks get out of synch? What’s social jetlag – and how can it harm our metabolism? Can weight gain really be triggered by irregular sleeping and eating patterns? Is it possible to fix your chronotype?

Is coffee good for you – or not? Can our genes influence how we react to coffee? Coffee vs caffeine – which influences our wellness? Who might see a benefit from drinking coffee, and who may want to limit intake?

Does dairy really cause cancer? Is dairy fit for human consumption, or a health hazard? Why is it that scientific studies on dairy seem to contradict each other – and how can we make sense of it all? Are hormones in milk a problem where you live?

Why detox? What qualifies as a toxin? What&#39,s the best detox diet for me? Periods of excess, bloating, weight gain, skin issues or a tired body call for a detox. Recognise how different toxin types affect your body, from your DNA, to your fat cells, to your brain. Learn the science of detoxification and the fundamentals of toxicology and participate in our Skills Lab? exercises. Get detox shopping lists, journals, food planners, cooking tips and detox smoothie recipes.

Is obesity socially contagious? Can we “catch” eating behaviours? Might the diets of those around us change our own eating pattern? Which social influences may make us eat differently without knowing?

How many egg yolks a day can you eat? Do food cholesterol and blood cholesterol differ, and what does this have to do with eggs? Can we really say cholesterol is “good” or “bad”? Should certain individuals be limiting their egg consumption?

Is too little exercise useless, but too much dangerous? Can over-exercising shorten your lifespan? Is your weekly hour at the spinning class enough? Should you actually exercise less?

How genetic is your level of exercise – or lack of? Why are some people more active than others? How does brain reward influence our desire to exercise? Which other factors can impact levels of fatigue?

Fasting and training, good or bad? Does fasted exercise accelerate fat loss – or not? What are the risks involved? How could a ketogenic diet impact power output? Might weight training cause glycogen depletion?

Is fat really filling? What impact can a high-fat diet have on appetite? Can a ketogenic diet reduce hunger – and why? Is it possible to be addicted to fats?

What are the benefits and risks of eating fish? Could some species carry a higher risk than others? What are the pros and cons of eating farmed vs wild fish? How much fish is safe to eat – and how much is too much?

Are folate and folic acid the same – and why should we care? How much folate do we need to survive? What if we have a gene mutation that prevents our body from using folate properly? Do folic acid supplements cause cancer?