With the founding of the Professorship for Exercise, Nutrition and Health in July 2019, the continuously growing interdisciplinarity of the TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences was once again expanded by one component: Nutritional Sciences. Prof. Dr. Karsten Köhler has been the head of the professorship from the very beginning.
As can already be deduced from the name of our professorship – “Exercise, Nutrition and Health” – Nutritional Science, just like Sport Science, pursues a holistic research approach and is composed of several sub-disciplines.
Our research focuses on the integration of nutrition and physical activity with the aim of optimizing health and physical performance. We investigate the complex regulation of the energy balance during physical activity and its effects on health and performance. Our research also focuses on the varied health effects of a misdirected energy balance, such as metabolic, hormonal and cardiovascular changes and suboptimal bone health.
In teaching, we compart the diversity of Nutritional Sciences to students. The basic lectures, for instance, are intended to provide students with a basis for understanding the interaction between exercise and nutrition, while at the same time critically questioning them. In seminars, students have the opportunity to put their acquired knowledge into practice independently and thus gain insights into potential future professional fields. For the master’s programs we offer elective modules in which the basics are specified and deepened.