When it comes to food and nutrition, the healthcare professions that come to your mind can be either a nutritionist or dietitian. Ever wonder if you should search for “private dietitian” or “private nutritionist”?
Yes! There are differences between these two professions:
Responsibilities
Dietitians
Dietitians assess and provide dietary advice to treat nutritional problems, including disease management such as diabetes, malnutrition, cancer, and etc.
Dietitians also provide dietary advice for disease prevention and promote healthy eating in individuals and the community.
Dietitians use a food-first approach that takes into consideration your lifestyle, medical conditions, medications, and does not promote any unnecessary health supplements.
Nutritionists​
Dietitians
Dietitian is a regulated term. In order to earn this title, dietitians need to obtain at least a Bachelor degree in nutrition and dietetics from an accredited university. They are also required to complete supervised training at clinical, community and food services settings.
To maintain accreditation, they will need to fulfil certain hours of continuing education as well.
Nutritionists
Accredited nutritionists are required to obtain at least a Bachelor degree in Nutrition. However, there may be some self-proclaimed nutritionists who do not obtain any qualifications.
It is advisable to look for those with accreditation if you plan to seek advice from a nutritionist to ensure that you are getting reliable nutritional advice.
Health Tips:
You can find out the list of accredited dietitians and nutritionists to make sure you are receiving evidence-based dietary advice.
When should you see a dietitian?
- You want to know if you are eating healthily
- You have been diagnosed with chronic diseases which requires dietary changes as one of the management plans
- You have digestive issues and would like to manage the symptoms
- You wish to optimise your sports performance
- You want to build a healthy relationship with food
- You have food allergies or sensitivities and do not know what to eat
- You are having issues with losing or gaining weight
