Food and health: overview of SQA Advanced Higher Health and Food Technology Area 1
An overview of the relationship between food and health in SQA Advanced Higher Health and Food Technology, covering nutrient functions and energy balance, dietary reference values and changing needs, and diet-related conditions, with study tips and links to each key area.
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The relationship between food and health is the first area of SQA Advanced Higher Health and Food Technology. It develops the nutrition you met at Higher into a deeper, more quantitative understanding: what each nutrient does, how energy balance is calculated and applied, how recommended intakes are set, and how diet helps cause and prevent a range of long-term conditions. This page maps the three key areas and shows how they connect.
The three key areas
- Nutrient functions and energy balance
- The functions and sources of the macronutrients (carbohydrate, fat, protein) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), plus fibre and water; energy balance; basal metabolic rate and physical activity level; and the consequences of positive and negative energy balance.
- Dietary reference values and changing needs
- What RNI, EAR, LRNI and safe intake mean and when each is used; why values are set for groups not individuals; and how nutritional needs change across the life stages and for specific groups, including pregnancy, infancy, adolescence, older age, athletes and those with allergies, intolerances or medical conditions.
- Diet-related conditions
- The relationship between diet and coronary heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, dental caries, iron-deficiency anaemia, osteoporosis, hypertension and bowel disorders, together with the dietary changes that reduce risk or help manage each condition.
How to study Area 1
- Learn the mechanism, then the food. Advanced Higher rewards explaining the body process (for example how saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol and forms atheroma), not just naming foods to eat or avoid.
- Be precise with the reference values. Know that the RNI is used for nutrients and the EAR for energy, and be able to justify each choice.
- Practise the energy-balance calculation. Total energy expenditure equals BMR multiplied by PAL; you should be able to use it both ways.
- Apply nutrition to people. Many marks come from adapting a diet for a named group, such as a pregnant woman, an adolescent or someone with type 2 diabetes.
The key areas in detail
Each key area has its own answer page with worked questions and cross-links. Use the quiz below to check your recall across the whole area, then work through the individual key areas.
For the official course specification
The SQA publishes the full Advanced Higher Health and Food Technology course specification and past papers at sqa.org.uk. Always revise from the current specification and SQA past papers.