The term nutritionist is subject to several interpretations.
In many jurisdictions a nutritionist is a health specialist who devotes professional activity to food and nutritional science, preventive nutrition, diseases related to nutrient deficiencies, and the use of nutrient manipulation to enhance the clinical response to human diseases. They can also advise people on dietary matters relating to health, well-being and optimal nutrition.
In many some jurisdictions such as the UK and some US states the term "nutritionist" is not a legally protected term. As a result, some nutritionists who appear in the media in these jurisdictions may give advise on diet that is of questionable informational value.
Training
There are a wide range of courses available which vary in duration from several days to several years. A person who represents him or herself as a nutritionist may have several different levels of education including a degree in nutrition or dietetics from a university (of which several may be accredited by nutritionist governing bodies such as the Nutrition Society accrediting degree courses in the UK) or certification in nutrition education and/or counseling from a private vocational/professional training school.
Regulation of the title "nutritionist"
Canada
The title "nutritionist" is protected in Quebec and Nova Scotia. [1] It is not protected in British Columbia. There were discussions about this when the dietitian designation was protected in British Columbia, but as of March 2008 "nutritionist" is not currently protected there.
United Kingdom
Nutritionist, unlike dietician, is not currently a protected term. Anyone in the UK can refer to himself or herself as a nutritionist without any formal qualifications. Different organisations promoting holistic and alternative therapies may use their own criteria to define a nutritionist. According to one of these, the Nutrition Society of the UK [2], the function of a nutritionist is to elicit, integrate, disseminate and apply scientific knowledge drawn from the relevant sciences, to promote an understanding of the effects of nutrition, and to enhance the impact of food on health and well-being of animals and/or people. They accredit nutritionists, conferring the titles Associate Nutritionist (ANutr), Associate Public Health Nutritionist (APHNutr), Registered Nutritionist, (R Nutr.), and Registered Public Health Nutritionist (RPHNutr). For these they consider an undergraduate training [3] sufficient to be entered on their Register of Nutritionists.
Types of Nutritionist
Nutrition Scientists
Nutrition scientists are those individuals who use the scientific method to study nutrients, both as individual compounds and as they interact in food and nutrition. The role of the nutrition scientist is to develop new knowledge related to nutrients or nutrition or to develop new processes or techniques to apply existing knowledge. For example, nutrition scientists have been involved in developing food preservation processes, determining nutrient requirements for various animal species, describing how individual nutrients function within the cells of the human body, and identifying nutrition-related problems in various populations.
Nutritionist scientists may have their basic training in nutrition or in a related field such as biochemistry, microbiology, cell biology, epidemiology, toxicology, agriculture, or food science, chemistry.
Public Health Nutritionists
Public health nutritionists are professionals who view the community as their client. They specialize in diagnosing the nutritional problems of communities and in finding solutions to those problems. Some classic examples of public health nutrition interventions include the fortification of salt with iodine to prevent Goitre or the enrichment of grain products with B vitamins to prevent deficiency diseases.
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