Nutritionist

Potentially edible!
Food woo

Fabulous food!

* Kymatika test
* Bovine growth hormone
* Juicing
* Gary Taubes
* Obesity

Delectable diets!

* Raw milk movement
* Trans fat
* Geophagia
* Bone broth

Bodacious bods!

* Ephedrine
* Joe Rogan
* Shawn Baker

v \- t \- e

“”... "dietician" [as a term] is like "dentist", and "nutritionist" is like "toothiologist".

—Dara Ó Briain on nutritionists.[1]

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.

## Contents

* 1 What it isn't
* 2 Meaningless term
* 3 Protected terms
* 3.1 Dietitian
* 3.2 Physician Nutrition Specialist®
* 3.3 Certified Nutrition SpecialistSM
* 3.4 Some questionable credentials
* 4 Possible dangers
* 5 In Portugal
* 6 In Brazil
* 7 External links
* 8 References

## What it isn't[edit]

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 certain foodstuffs which often outright contradict reality.

## Meaningless term[edit]

"Nutritionist" as a term is meaningless. Notably, it requires very little formal training to become a "nutritionist". 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 "qualification" to ~~Dr~~ Gillian McKeith ~~PhD~~.[2]

There are various permutations such as Nutritional Therapist, Clinical Nutritionist, and Diet Expert, which are all equally meaningless.[3]

## Protected terms[edit]

Protected terms 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[edit]

Dietitians – also called Registered Dietitians – are certified by the 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.[4] 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.[5][6] 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).[3]

### Physician Nutrition Specialist®[edit]

The title "Physician Nutrition Specialist" (PNS) is a registered service mark of the 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 SpecialistSM[edit]

The title "Certified Nutrition Specialist" (CNS) is a service mark belonging to the 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.[7] 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[edit]

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[edit]

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 (mostly) harmless and causes people to just waste money buying exotic fruit for its 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[edit]

Portugal, curiously, is one of the countries which recognises both nutritionists and dietitians as legitimate professions.[8]

In fact, they are both regulated by the same body, the Ordem dos Nutricionistas ("Nutritionists' Order"), which plans to abolish distinctions between both by abolishing "dietitians" and bring them both under the "nutritionist" title.[8]

## In Brazil[edit]

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[edit]

* That Mitchell and Webb Look: Lifestyle Nutritionists – This pretty much explains everything about nutritionists.
* Surprising Superfoods ˆ One of the worst offending articles.

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Dara Ó Briain comedy clip on homeopathy and nutritionists. YouTube.
2. ↑ Bad Science – Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD) continued
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dietitian, Nutritionist, Nutritional Therapist or Diet Expert?, Association of UK Dietitians, 2014
4. ↑ Check HCPC Registration, British Dietetic Association website, accessed 11 Sept 2018
5. ↑ Welcome to the Association for Nutrition, Association for Nutrition (UK), accessed 12 March 2019
6. ↑ How to become a registered nutritionist, Public Health Matters, UK Government, Posted on: 16 October 2014
7. ↑ http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/nutritionist.html
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dietistas exigem tratamento igual aos nutricionistas ("Dietitians demand equal treatment to that of nutritionists"), Público/Lusa

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Articles about food woo

Food woo: |  Kymatika test • Superfoods • Haggis • Green tea • Bovine growth hormone • Microwave oven • Cat food • Raspberry ketone • Juicing • Orthorexia • Fortune cookie • Cayenne pepper • Soylent • Kopi luwak • Pete Evans • Raw honey • Apitherapy • Germ theory denialism • Omega-3 • Burusho • Chris Beat Cancer • Turmeric • Salt • Tripe • Vegetarianism • Pork • Water woo • Chocolate • Magnetic water treatment • In vitro meat • Agaricus • Locavore • Cyclamate • Freedom fries • Fast food • RationalWiki diet • Spot reduction • Breastfeeding • Sugar • Bottled water • Forks Over Knives • Pseudovitamin • Coffee • Dietary cholesterol • Humans are herbivores • Hydrogen water • New Eden School of Natural Health • Irina Ermakova • Airborne • William Li • Center for Science in the Public Interest • Baby eating • Cannibalism • Super Size Me • Wine • Sandwich • Fish farming • The miracle of honey as an alternative medicine • Food irradiation • Heart Attack Grill • Probiotics • Udo Pollmer • Richard A. Passwater • Bacon • Food woo • Insect • Jilly Juice • Spam • Veganism • Obesity • Food and Drug Administration • Soy boy •
| Promoters: |  American Association of Nutritional Consultants • John Fagan • Food Babe • GreenMedInfo • Organic Consumers Association • Vandana Shiva • Anti-Gym • Bulletproof diet • Joel Fuhrman • Harmonized H2O • Errol Denton • Gerson Therapy • MonaVie • Purity Products • Robert Young • Matt Cahill • Life Extension Foundation • Rick Scott • David Wolfe • Whole Foods Market • PETA • THINCS • Abd ul-Rahman Lomax • Jeffrey Smith • Jim Bakker • Mehmet Oz • Essene Gospel of Peace • John Heinerman • Institute for Natural Healing • Aseem Malhotra • Konstantin Monastyrsky • Marika Sboros • Malcolm Kendrick • Gary Taubes • Consumer Health Digest • James DiNicolantonio • Dwight Lundell • Chris Kresser • Frank Lipman • Carolyn Dean • William Davis • Anthony William • Josh Axe • Nasha Winters • H. L. Newbold • Tim Noakes • Zoë Harcombe • Annee de Mamiel • Sarah Palin • Weston A. Price Foundation • Michael Savage • Gary Null • H2Om • Nancy Appleton • Vinnie Tortorich • MeMe Roth • Environmental Working Group • Eric Berg • Varg Vikernes • Shawn Baker • Hunter Avallone • David Perlmutter • Jake Angeli • Church of Scientology • Kevin Trudeau • Kurt Saxon • Jack Dorsey • Steve Pavlina • TruthWiki • Lew Rockwell • Steve Jobs • NaturalNews • Jethro Kloss • Jordan Peterson • Jason Fung • Vegan Artbook • Paul Saladino • Truthstream Media • Jimmy Moore • Max Lugavere • Vegan Gains • Tom Naughton • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. • Ray Peat • Joel D. Wallach •
| Diet woo: |  Blood type diet • Breatharianism • Jesus diet • Lemonade diet • Ephedrine • Fasting • Macrobiotics • Organic food • Raw foodism • Doughism • Alkaline diet • Self help • Paleo diet • French paradox • Nutritional supplement • Gerson Therapy • Herbalife • Vitamin D • Creatine • Raw milk movement • Gluten-free • Anti-oxidants • Squirrel diet • Vitamin and mineral supplements • Soy • Trans fat • Errol Denton • Coconut oil • Glycemic index • Isagenix • Subway diet • Agave nectar • Sweeteners • High-fructose corn syrup • Neti pot • Milk • Bulletproof diet • Pro-ana • Carnivora • Geophagia • Holland & Barrett • Weigh down diet • Clean living movement • Edward Howell • Bone broth • Palm oil • Jack Dorsey • Carrot • Diet soda • Food dye • Low-carb diet • Carnivore diet • Vitamin C • Steve Pavlina • Lew Rockwell • Steve Jobs • Jeanette Winterson • Onion • Helminthic therapy • Mediterranean diet • Fad diet •
| Supplement woo: |  Ellagic acid • Apple cider vinegar • Canola oil • Aspartame • Chlorella • Chlorophyll • Coconut oil • Creatine • E number • Rooibos tea • Açaí berry • Vitamin D • Salt woo • Matt Cahill • Vitamin and mineral supplements • Soylent Green • Rick Scott • Dietary supplements • Herbal supplement • Consumer Health Digest • Activated charcoal • CEASE therapy • Vitamin C •
| Toxin woo: |  Aspartame • Canola oil • Microwave • Broccoli • Cleanse • Chemophobia • Candida • Nitrites • Lead • Mercury • Trans fat • E number • Monosodium glutamate • Food allergy • DDT • Colloidal silver • Arsenic • Aristolochia • Alcohol • Median lethal dose • Ayahuasca • Activated charcoal • Water • Polonium • Botox • Radium • Uranium • Real Water • Toxin •
| Bodybuilding woo: |  ECA stack • Creatine • Ephedrine • Fad diet • Urban caveman movement • Anti-Gym • Human chorionic gonadotrophin • Bodybuilding woo • Broscience • Bold and Determined • Human growth hormone • The Golden One • Joe Rogan • Shawn Baker • Carnivore diet •
| GMO: |  March Against Monsanto • Monsanto • GMO A Go Go • Seeds of Death • Mark Lynas • Michael Pollan • GreenMedInfo • Judy Carman • Vandana Shiva • Bill Maher • Liberty Beacon • Food, Inc • Food Babe • Gilles-Eric Séralini • Nassim Nicholas Taleb • Glyphosate • AlterNet • FAQ on genetically modified food • Kevin Folta • Beppe Grillo • Jill Stein • TruthWiki • Genetically modified food • Golden Rice • Kyle Kulinski • The Non-GMO Project • Environmental Working Group • Fair trade • The Young Turks • Frank Lipman • American Academy of Environmental Medicine • Chidambaram Subramaniam • M.S. Swaminathan • Norman Borlaug • Percy Schmeiser • Jimmy Dore • Immortal Technique • David Dees • NaturalNews • Truthstream Media • Zachary K. Hubbard • Matt Walsh •