The Cuesta College Nutrition program offers students a variety of interesting and challenging courses for students to learn about chemicals and nutrients in food and their effects on the human body and the world. The study of nutritional science contributes to preparing students for careers as nutritionists, registered dietitians (RD), food scientists, or other dietetics professionals. The Associate in Science in Nutrition and Dietetics for Transfer degree (AS-T in Nutrition and Dietetics) prepares students for success in a baccalaureate degree in Nutrition and Dietetics with the lower-division coursework required to transfer into the CSU system. The department also offers a Nutrition Education/Coaching Certificate of Achievement to help prepare students to educate and coach peers one-on-one, give practical advice on nutrition when combined with personal training certifications, and work for community partners in nutrition education entry level jobs. The Plant-Based Sustainable Nutrition, Agriculture, and Culinary Arts Certificate Program provides the science, and history, that supports the benefits of whole plant-based foods for health, sustainable agriculture, and culinary arts and explores how food choice can promote sustainable food industry, public policy, health, and equity.

The Cuesta College Nutrition program provides a broad foundation in a practical and personally applicable exposure to a variety of scientific areas of nutrition such as chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, anatomy, physiology, and biology. Popular topics include microbial pathogens, environmental contaminants, nutrigenomics, macronutrient balance, energy metabolism, obesity, global issues, biochemistry of exercise, and micronutrient and phytochemical utilization. Students in the program learn how the scientific method and process contributes to nutritional requirements and how nutrients function from a cellular to more practical level, and then apply this knowledge to their own health. The program ultimately helps students understand the role of nutrition in disease prevention throughout the lifecycle and as an impact on society as a whole. The Nutrition program offers courses that meet college requirements in GE, a Nutrition Certificate, and Diversity and offers courses in both face-to-face and Distance Education modalities.