Nutrition Research Methodology

Nutrition Research Methodology

Introduction

Research is a meticulous process to discover new, or collate old, facts by the scientific study of a subject or through a critical investigation. In this context, nutrition research involves advances in knowledge concerning not only nutrient functions and the short- or long-term influences of food and nutrient consump-tion on health, but also studies on food composition, dietary intake, and food and nutrient utilization by the organism.

The design of any investigation involves the selec-tion of the research topic accompanied by the formu-lation of both the hypotheses and the aims, the preparation of a research protocol with appropriate and detailed methods and, eventually, the execution of the study under controlled conditions and the analysis of the findings leading to a further hypothe-sis. These stages of a typical research program are commonly followed by the interpretation of the results and subsequent theory formulation. Other important aspects concerning the study design are the selection of statistical analyses as well as the definition of the ethical commitments.