Nutrition-a Source of Health and Disease is an elective course in the first year of the University Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate Study of Medicine in English, consisting of 25 seminar hours and graded at 1.5 ECTS. The course is designed to encourage medical students to think critically about various aspects of nutrition whose influence on an individual's health manifests itself throughout life. Nutrients entering the body simultaneously provide a source of energy necessary for growth, physical activity, and maintenance of life, but also pose a potential risk for the development of a variety of diseases. Critical discussions, which are an integral part of the course, aim to familiarise students with the basic concepts related to nutrition and the importance of a healthy diet, as well as the issue of genetically modified organisms. Special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between modern nutrition and diseases such as obesity, anorexia, bulimia, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, cancer, etc. 
The aim of the course is to educate students about the basics of nutrition, the factors that influence a healthy diet, and the relationship between diet and lifestyle and common diseases (physical and mental). The main objective is to develop in students a critical attitude toward nutrition. Topics covered in the course "Nutrition - a Source of Health and Disease" include various aspects of nutrition in health and disease, as well as nutritional needs at different stages of life, including child nutrition, nutrition in pregnancy, in the elderly, and in various diseases. The goal of the course is to provide students with a holistic overview of the relationship between nutrition and health, as well as various health problems, potential risk to health, the impact of a particular diet on an individual's health, and targeted nutrition in individual patient populations with various chronic diseases. Students can choose a topic from the suggested topics related to nutrition and freely prepare the presentation and discussion in groups under the guidance of the professor. In this way, students develop presentation and discussion skills and learn how to avoid inaccuracies. Approaches to Teaching and Learning: After the initial introduction to the course "Nutrition - a Source of Health and Disease" and the basic facts of nutrition, specific seminar topics are suggested based on the individual interest of the students. Students are free to propose their own topic. Each student prepares a specific topic with the help of the professor. After the presentation of a specific topic, students actively discuss various aspects of the presented problem. 
Learning outcomes include the development of knowledge about the dependence of the structure and function of macromolecules on the processes in the living organism, the basics of nutrition, the development of the ability to use the acquired knowledge to understand the role of nutrients in the biological processes in the cell and thus in pathological processes in the body. After passing the exam, the student will be able to describe the guidelines of a balanced diet, the effects of specific diets on human health and the target type of appropriate nutrition in chronic diseases.