Department of Nutrition

　　The current Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) was established in 1997, as a result of the combination of the previous Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene as well as Department of Nutrition from Zhongshan Medical Sciences University. 
The Department of Nutrition currently has 14 full-time teachers (8 professors, 4 associate professors and 2 associate researchers) with 10 being the mentors of doctoral students and 2 being the mentors of master students. Professor Wenhua, Ling, who has earned The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and State Council Expert for Special Allowance, is also the gainer of Top 100 Excellent Mentors of Doctoral Degree Dissertation in China and National Outstanding Teacher. Professor Min, Xia, on the other hand, is the gainer of Young Scholars of the Changjiang River and Outstanding Talents of National Ten Thousand Talents Plan. The department also includes 5 teachers from One Hundred Talents Plan of Zhongshan University.
　　In addition, Nutrition and Food Hygiene, one of the core courses of the Department of Nutrition, is the awarding unit for both master degree (approved in 1986, one the earliest approved units) and doctoral degree (approved in 2003). The course was named as the Fine Subject of SYSU in 2007 as well as approved as the Key Subject of Guangdong Province in 2007 and Key Laboratory of Diet, Nutrition and Health of Guangdong Province in 2009. 
　　The Department of Nutrition mainly conducts researches on the field of Diet, Nutrition and Health and is focusing on 3 directions: Role and Mechanism of Diet and Nutrition’s effect on Prevention of Metabolic Diseases, Dietary Patterns on Prevention of Chronic Diseases and Effect and Risk Assessment of Dietary Toxins on Health. 
　　Being the key laboratory of Diet, Nutrition and Health of Guangdong Province, the Department of Nutrition has gained outstanding achievements in related fields and conducted several national and provincial iconic research projects including one project from National Key Research and Development, one from National Key Basic Research and Development Plan (973 project), one from Major Special Projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, one from National "11th Five Year Plan" Science and Technology Support Plan, one from National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and two from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSERC). 
　　Moreover, the Department of Nutrition is submitting high quality research papers to influential publications worldwide each year and respectful amounts has been received and published, including more than 40 with an impact factor greater than 5. The achievements of the department has received multiple awards including first prize of Natural Science of Ministry of Education, first prize of Guangdong Science and Technology Award, first prize of Natural Science for Outstanding Achievements in Scientific Research of Institutions of Higher Learning, second prize of Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award as well as second prize of Achievements of Nutrition Science and Technology of Chinese Nutrition Society. The department also involves in revisions of “Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents” (Chinese DRIs) regarding intake of macronutrients, vitamins, mineral and phytonutrients.
　　Besides students from Nutrition, The Department of Nutrition is also responsible for the fundamental and professional education of undergraduate and graduate students from Preventive Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Nursing majors currently. The courses provided by the department include “Nutrition and Food Hygiene”, “Clinical Nutrition”, “Maternal and Child Nutrition”, “Human Nutrition”, “Food Science”, “Cooking”, “Food Toxicology”, “Community Nutrition” and “Food Safety”, “Chinese Food Culture”, “Disease Nutrition”, “Preventive Medicine”. The department is also involved in editing various course materials including being the chief editor of “Preventive Medicine”, “Clinical Nutrition” and “Human Nutrition” courses and being the deputy editor of “Nutrition and Food Hygiene” and “Encyclopedia of Chinese Medicine”.