Fitness, Nutrition and Health
Fitness, nutrition, and health is a field that examines the scientific foundations of physical performance, dietary health, and overall wellbeing, and the ways in which exercise, diet, and lifestyle interact to support or undermine health across the lifespan. It draws on physiology, biochemistry, psychology, and public health to develop understanding of how the body responds to exercise and nutrition, how behaviour and environment shape health outcomes, and how practitioners can use this knowledge to support individuals and communities in achieving and maintaining better health.
At Abertay University, this four-year full-time programme develops your scientific understanding of exercise physiology, nutrition science, and health psychology alongside practical skills in fitness assessment, dietary analysis, behaviour change support, and health promotion. You will study how energy systems, muscles, and metabolism respond to training, how nutritional strategies can optimise health and performance, and how psychological and social factors influence people's engagement with healthy behaviour. A year abroad is incorporated into the programme, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner institution in another country and gain an international perspective on approaches to fitness, nutrition, and public health.
Graduates from fitness, nutrition, and health programmes work as fitness instructors, personal trainers, nutrition advisers, health coaches, exercise physiologists, and health promotion practitioners in gyms, sport and leisure centres, corporate wellbeing organisations, community health services, and public health agencies. The scientific grounding of the programme also supports progression to postgraduate study in sports science, nutrition, public health, or physiotherapy, or towards professional registration in dietetics or exercise physiology for those who wish to develop further clinical expertise.