Nutritionist

A nutritionist is a person who advises other people on dietary matters relating to their health and well-be-ing. While dieticians have formal accredited tertiary qualifications, nutritionists require no formal training, and as a result, Dieticians tend to use that term in their professional life, with the term nutritionist often being used by unqualified practitioners who can range from healthcare professionals to people who advise on nutrition at a health food store.

There are a large number of nutritionists who write for newspapers and magazines, advising on diets, with others writing nutritional books which vary in content from those that offer detailed and scientifically tested diets to those that have been found to be unhelpful at best.

To try to go some way in regulating nutritionists, the Nutrition Society operates in the United Kingdom, although registration is voluntary as the occupational term nutritionist is not protected. The Society was established in 1941 with the task “to advance the scientific study of nutrition and its application to the maintenance of human and animal health.” It also produces four scientific journals (British Journal of Nutrition, Nutrition Research Reviews, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, and Public Health Nutrition), which are published by Cambridge University Press. In the United States, the American Society for Nutrition has more than 3,500 members. It publishes The Journal of Nutrition and also the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition from its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.

Important nutritionists in recent years include Dr. Robert Coleman Atkins who was a cardiologist and [Page 1260]wrote seven books starting with the Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution (1972) in which he advocated that people wishing to lose weight should eat large amounts of fat and protein to lessen their intake of carbohydrates. Others have appeared on television, in newspapers, and magazines, and have published books, some of which have valuable information, with others being marginal in terms of their usefulness.