Nutritionist

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{{cquote|... "dietitian" [as a term] is like "dentist", and "nutritionist" is like "toothiologist".|||Dara Ó Briain on nutritionists.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uRqB5-egs1s Dara Ó Briain comedy clip on homeopathy and nutritionists]. ''[[YouTube]].</ref>}}
A '''nutritionist''' is a person interested in nutrition, but most likely is a person interested in selling their ideas about nutrition. They often give out diet advice which is a mix of sensible suggestions, product placement, and outright [[woo]].

==What it ''isn't''==
It is important to realise that the term generally does ''not'' refer to people who give sensible, common-sense dietary advice.  No one could argue with "eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and take it easy on fatty and sugary foods"; however, while well-known nutritionists' advice (paid for of course) may indirectly lead to such eating habits, they often go further and make magical claims about [[Superfoods|certain foodstuffs]] which often outright contradict [[reality]].

==Meaningless term==
"Nutritionist" as a term is meaningless. Notably, it requires very little formal training to become a "nutritionist".  [[The Guardian|''Guardian'']] columnist and writer [[Ben Goldacre]] once got his cat (which had died a few years previously) registered as a certified member of the [[American Association of Nutritional Consultants]], the same organisation that gave a "[[diploma mill|qualification]]" to [[Gillian McKeith|
Dr
 Gillian McKeith 
PhD
]].<ref>
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2004/sep/30/badscience.research Bad Science – Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD) continued]
</ref>

There are various permutations such as Nutritional Therapist, Clinical Nutritionist, and Diet Expert, which are all equally meaningless.<ref name=bda2014/>

==Protected terms==
''[[Protected term]]s'' do exist for people who give out diet advice.  You can't go around calling yourself any of these terms unless you're certified by the appropriate agency, in much the same way that you can't call yourself a Medical Doctor (MD) or a police officer without official and recognized authority, training and qualification.  Here are some of the more meaningful protected terms:

===Dietitian===
Dietitians – also called ''Registered Dietitians'' – are certified by the [https://www.eatrightpro.org/acend Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics] (formerly called the American Dietetic Association) in the US.  The advice they offer about food, nutrition, and medical diets is backed by science, and there are standards in place for the things they advise.

Recently, and somewhat confusingly, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has added the protected term "'''Registered Dietitian Nutritionist'''" (RDN) to the short list of titles it grants.

In the UK, dietitian is the only protected title in the field of nutrition and is regulated by the Health & Care Professions Council.<ref>[https://www.bda.uk.com/improvinghealth/yourhealth/hcpc Check HCPC Registration], British Dietetic Association website, accessed 11 Sept 2018</ref> The Association for Nutrition is a reputable body which controls the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists, listing Associate Nutritionists and Registered Nutritionists who have relevant training and experience, but these are not (yet) protected titles.<ref>[http://www.associationfornutrition.org/ Welcome to the Association for Nutrition], Association for Nutrition (UK), accessed 12 March 2019</ref><ref>[https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2014/10/16/how-to-become-a-registered-nutritionist/ How to become a registered nutritionist], Public Health Matters, UK Government, Posted on: 16 October 2014</ref> In the UK, only registered dietitians can work in clinical contexts with ill people, while registered nutritionists largely focus on preventing disease in healthy people (or work under dietitians' direction).<ref name=bda2014>[https://web.archive.org/web/20151008093230/https://www.bda.uk.com/publications/dietitian_nutritionist.pdf Dietitian, Nutritionist, Nutritional Therapist or Diet Expert?], Association of UK Dietitians, 2014</ref>

===Physician Nutrition Specialist&reg;===
The title "Physician Nutrition Specialist" (PNS) is a registered service mark of the [http://main.uab.edu/Sites/abpns/ American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists] (ABPNS) reserved exclusively for physicians who specialize in nutrition.  Extra course work and supervised practice is required to obtain the certification.   Such physicians generally do not hawk their nutrition advice directly to patients, however; they tend to serve as nutrition coordinators at hospitals or clinics, work with specialized cases that require more knowledge than what a registered dietician might have at hand, or work on studies, trying to better understand the body's needs under various physical conditions, illnesses, or stresses.

===Certified Nutrition Specialist<sup>SM</sup>===
The title "Certified Nutrition Specialist" (CNS) is a service mark belonging to the [http://www.cbns.org/ Certification Board for Nutritional Specialists].  Until 2010, this organization had a pretty decent reputation for standards: It offered the CNS credential only to professionals with an accredited master's or doctoral degree who had clinical experience and passed an examination.<ref>http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/nutritionist.html</ref>  However, since that time they've removed their clinical experience requirement and added "[[Naturopath]]" to the degrees they'll accept for their CNS credential.  They still require the applicant to pass an exam, but their certification requirements are less substantial than those of ABPNS.

===Some questionable credentials===
The following are technically "protected terms," in the sense that some organization has registered them as service marks.  However, that doesn't mean said organizations have a certification program any more complex than "click on the 'print certificate' button":

*Certified Clinical Nutritionist (CCN), given out by the Clinical Nutrition Certification Board (CNCB) of the International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists
*Certified Nutritionist (CN), given out by American Health Science University
*Certified Nutritional Consultant (CNC), given out by the [[American Association of Nutritional Consultants]]

==Possible dangers==
One of the things about "nutritionists" is that they often mix in good advice (which doesn't change, and is free) with quite bad advice. This bad advice is usually their own specific piece of [[woo]] that they like to trot out to make money – to make it seem like they're doing some actual original thinking or possibly even ''research''. At best, this wrong advice is ([[What's the harm (logical fallacy)|mostly]]) harmless and causes people to just waste money buying [[acai|exotic fruit]] for its [[bullshit|purported]] anti-[[cancer]] properties. At worst it can be risky, or outright dangerous. Nutritionists may suggest cutting out entire food groups which can seriously and adversely affect someone's mood or they can suggest procedures such as [[colonic]] [[cleansing]]/irrigation that can be quite dangerous and somewhat uncomfortable.

==In Portugal==
[[Portugal]], curiously, is one of the countries which recognises both nutritionists and dietitians as legitimate professions.<ref name="publico">[http://www.publico.pt/sociedade/noticia/dietistas-exigem-tratamento-igual-aos-nutricionistas-1692970 ''Dietistas exigem tratamento igual aos nutricionistas''] ("Dietitians demand equal treatment to that of nutritionists"), Público/Lusa</ref>

In fact, they are both regulated by the same body, the ''[http://www.ordemdosnutricionistas.pt Ordem dos Nutricionistas]'' ("Nutritionists' Order"), which plans to abolish distinctions between both by abolishing "dietitians" and bring them both under the "nutritionist" title.<ref name="publico"/>

==In Brazil==
In [[Brazil]], there is no distinction between a nutritionist and a dietitian, since the latter term doesn't even exist. A nutritionist (Portuguese: ''nutricionista'') in Brazil is someone who has graduated the higher-education course of Nutrition in a higher-education institutions certified the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture, as well as has been certified by the Regional Council of Nutrition (CRM) of their respective jurisdiction.

==External links==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SavsJYXWgm8 That Mitchell and Webb Look: Lifestyle Nutritionists] – This pretty much explains ''everything'' about nutritionists.
*[http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/surprising-superfoods-20091124-jef7.html Surprising Superfoods] ˆ One of the worst offending articles.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{foodbox}}

[[Category:Food woo]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]

Categories: Food woo, Pseudoscience