SPORTS AND EXERCISE NUTRITION - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module focuses on the application of nutrition to sports and exercise. Building on core nutritional knowledge developed from BMS2039 or BMS2071, Sport & Exercise Nutrition will provide further applied information specific for athletes or active individuals. The module begins with an introduction to exercise physiology to enable all to be able to frame activity with specific energy systems, aiding nutritional understanding and links to substrate and fuel needs. The module will discuss key nutrients required for sports nutrition and develop links to specific sporting endeavors. Content is taught using a collection of in house and external speakers from industry and academia. By the end of the module students will be confident in how to apply nutrition principles in a sport and exercise setting.   

Module provider

School of Biosciences

Module Leader

HULTON Andrew (Biosciences)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

BMS2039 Human Nutrition OR BMS2071 Human Nutrition for Sports & Exercise.  

Module content

• Introduction to the module.


• Exercise physiology: physiological and biochemical response to exercise & training


• Practical: the effect of ergogenic aids or nutritional interventions on exercise performance


• Energy and macronutrient requirements for exercise


• Carbohydrate and performance


• Protein, exercise and health


• Fluid & electrolytes balance in exercise and


• Ergogenic aids


• The female athlete


• Practical Sports Nutrition – building on employability pilar with guest sports nutritionist showcasing his/her career pathway and experiences.


• Nutrition for strength & power, and team sports. 


• Seminar 1: Case studies: Linked to financial or cultural considerations.


• Exercise nutrition for the non-athlete & energy balance

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

None.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

A strong understanding of the use of ergogenic aids to improve sporting endeavours within the short scientific paper/report. Enabling students’ to demonstrate their understanding of the exercise physiology and potential effect of nutritional aids. Students can apply contemporary research with current recommendations to both compare and contrast their results, but also critique the research design and provide a clear future direction for the research. In addition, this assessment allows students’ to develop their critical analysis and general academic skills further, with specific feedback providing support for students Research Project – Nutrition and Exercise (BMS3076) module.

The requirement for students to produce an academic poster as the coursework assessment provides the student not only with an opportunity highlight their understanding on the nutritional needs of an athlete or sport by suggesting dietary recommendations to improve sporting performance, but also to hone skills in communicating key elements of nutrition in a visually concise and informative way, further developing students digital capabilities.  Student posters will be presented at a dedicated poster session, where students are able to view other posters, and learn issues and features of a range of sports. It also allows an opportunity for questions and input from peers. 

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

1. An A1/A0 size academic poster summarising a chosen sport, with accompanying summary leaflet (max 2 sides of A4). Addressing LO’s: 2, 3, 4, 5.


2. Written brief scientific paper based (2000 words) on the practical data collected. Addressing LO’s: 1, 2, 3, 5.

Peer marking will be included in both assessments. Within the scientific paper, the peer mark will act as an internal mark, whereby students will provide a peer mark on their group members. Whereas the peer mark for the poster will be provided by external students attending the presentation session. Strick guidelines on these marks will be discussed and provided to students.

Formative assessment and feedback

• Pre-set tasks set in SurreyLearn asking students to write a brief 5 min essay on a set topic within a module. An academic’s essay will be provided for students to compare and contrast their work. Specifically focusing on scientific writing and the formation of the paragraph.


• Data available for students to generate figures and tables during the practical sessions and gain immediate feedback on their design, layout, and informative nature.


• Zoom tutorials set to allow students to speak with academics and gain formative feedback by discussing assessments directly.

 

Feedback:

• Verbal feedback following lectures or during tutorials.


• Verbal feedback from academics during practical’s.


• Feedback to specific queries via email, with responses being made available to all via SurreyLearn or during tutorials as appropriate generic class feedback to practical reports.


• Discussion boards available after all lectures and specific assessment discussion boards open to all, and allowed anonymous questioning or comments.


• Individual written feedback on poster from academics within 3 week of the poster session (excluding University closure days). To include peer marking element

Individual feedback on scientific paper within 3 weeks of submission

Module aims

• Learn to evaluate of the physiological, biochemical and nutritional demands of exercise and sport.
• To expand students¿ knowledge on the innovative ways nutrition can be used to enhance exercise performance, improve recovery and adaptation.
• To further students¿ understanding of research methods and skills used in exercise/sports nutrition research, and provide an opportunity to utilise these in a practical and theoretical setting.
• To critically appraise the suitability of commercially available sports nutrition products, and develop your own.
• To gain insight into the role of the sports nutritionist/sports dietitian alongside individuals and teams.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Students will be expected to attend lectures to receive the content for the module. A further addition to the module to support students is the creation of a module activity guide. This has been developed to provide students with weekly information that they are encouraged to engage with. Content is available on SurreyLearn for students to use and linked to from the activity guide for ease. Subject matter is available prior to the sessions to read/view to ‘prepare’ students for the ‘discovery’ in the lectures. Students will be able to engage with further reading or short videos to ‘review’ their understanding, and finally, tasks and discussions will be provided for students to integrate new knowledge into developing further understanding.

The practical session will not only be utilised to provide students with the opportunity to gain further experience in a laboratory setting, but also as the setting in which students will collect all their data that will be used for their summative assessment 1. Therefore attendance at these sessions is expected.

Throughout the module SurreyLearn will extensively be used to inform students and disseminate specific contents such as lecture hand-outs and recordings, useful links and additional literature. SurreyLearn will also be used to communicate between academics and students to effectively answer questions that are of relevance to all students (Discussion boards).

 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: BMS3069

Other information

The School of Biosciences and Medicine is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:

Digital Capabilities: The module is supported with an Activity Guide to support students navigation within the module. This activity guide will provide links to additional content to support the module including further literature and short informative videos. Students will also present their posters digitally, providing an opportunity for students to be innovative when presenting their posters and handouts.

Global & Cultural Capabilities: Students will engage in a case study session, during which the use the case studies to discuss issues in sport nutrition such as the impact of Ramadan on athletes and the rise in vegan athletes will be included.

Employability: A guest session from an active sports nutritionist is included within the module. During this session they will discuss their journey to employment and the key skills needed to succeed. Further, academic staff within the module teams have experience of working in applied settings and link to the theory to the practice throughout.

Resourcefulness & Resilience: Group work is used heavily within the module. In both practical’s and assessments. Groupwork will hopefully support the development and awareness of the values of compassion, trust and empathy, and ultimately build emotional intelligence. Peer marks for group members are included - enabling reflection on individual contributions within the group/team.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.