Medical Questions » Diet Questions » Question No. 1175
| Question: | What' s the dif ference between nutritional therapists and dieticians? |
| Answer: | Both nutritional therapists and dieticians are experts trained to give you a dietary programme to keep you healthy. A dietician is probably trained more conservatively, basing nutrient requirements on the recommended daily allowances and often working with people who have serious health problems and
are on medication. GP practices and hospitals often refer people to dieticians to help manage their diet.
A nutritional therapist looks at your optimum levels, that is, what you need to maximise your potential. Nutritional therapists also take into account your lifestyle and environment as well as what you eat and drink. Nutritional therapists are generally well up on the subject of supplementation and dieticians are not.
When you visit a nutritional therapist, make sure they have had three years of training. The organisation representing dieticians is called the British Dietetic Association (BDA). Meanwhile, the British Association of Nutritional Therapists (BANT) acts on behalf of nutritional therapists. I think there is a need for regulation of the profession, and it is, in fact, moving towards standardisation and self regulation to ensure that good standards are set and maintained in nutritional therapy. Nutritional therapists from recognised colleges, such as the Institute for Optimum Nutrition that I founded, are trained to a very high standard. But these fields of nutrition, nutritional therapy and dietetics should really all be one. |
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