Registered nutritionist

A nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on human health. Different professional terms are used in different countries, employment settings and contexts: nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical nutritionist, and sports nutritionist.

The terms "dietitian" (also spelled "dietician") and "nutritionist" are not synonymous. In many countries and jurisdictions, the title "nutritionist" is not subject to professional regulation; thus any person may call themselves a nutritionist/nutrition expert even if they are wholly self-taught. In the United Kingdom, Australia, parts of Canada, and most US states, the term nutritionist is not legally protected, whereas the title of dietitian can be used only by those who have met specified professional requirements. People who have achieved this standard refer to themselves as Registered Dietitians, and use "R.D." after their name. One career counselor attempting to describe the difference between the two professions to Canadian students suggested "all dietitians are nutritionists, but not all nutritionists are dietitians."

The term nutritionist may be associated with practitioners of alternative medicine. Prominent examples include Gillian McKeith and Robert O. Young. There are a sufficiently large number of practicing self-styled nutritionists without appropriate qualifications to be a distraction to the general public. A danger is that many of these unqualified nutritionists can be seen on the World Wide Web to contribute to online health discussions by advising a person to ignore their doctor's prescriptions (those opinions being the considered opinion of a qualified healthcare professional) in favor of some "fad" foodstuff which they claim will cure all ills. Nutritionism, practiced in a responsible way by a qualified person, could be a robust scientific discipline which uses science to formulate guidelines if it were not for the overwhelming numbers of unqualified practitioners.

To obtain the Nutritionist title, one must have studied at a recognized university for four years plus a year practice (internship). The nutritionists are registered at the Conselho Regional de Nutricão. A Nutritionist can prescribe diets, work at hospitals with clinical intervention, or in food production segment.

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