What is the difference between a Registered Dietitian
and a Nutritionist?
Many fitness facilities offer “nutrition” services to help with weight loss. You’ll hear about 8-week weight loss challenges, ‘Drop a Jean Size’ challenges, and ‘Win Back your Dues’ if you hit your weight loss goal challenges. All of these are great marketing ideas to get you hooked on the idea of finally losing those unwanted pounds, however, have you ever wondered WHO is delivering the nutrition education?
In most cases it’s the Personal Training staff who takes on this role. Although personal trainers may know a bit about nutrition, the question remains on whether they are qualified to provide this service? Personal training certification programs teach only the very basics of nutrition: calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Some programs go further into detail and teach you how to calculate caloric needs for clients. If a Personal Trainer also has a degree in Exercise & Sport Science, they may have had 1 or 2 courses on nutrition science. Unfortunately, that’s where it stops. Legally, a Certified Personal Trainer can talk about nutrition, but offering up meal plans is outside their scope of practice. Even scarier is that personal trainers can call themselves “nutritionists” giving you, the consumer the impression that they are qualified to help you.
You may be asking why this distinction is important. I promise to reveal the reasons. Please keep reading!
According to Wikipedia, a nutritionist is a person who advises others on the matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on health. Anyone can claim to be a nutrition expert simply by hanging a shingle on their door, regardless of their education or professional training.
In Pennsylvania, you need a license to practice nutrition, and that requires significantly more study and preparation. In Pennsylvania, the practice of nutrition and dietetics means the integration and application of principles derived from the sciences of food nutrition, biochemistry, physiology, management and behavior to provide for all aspects of nutrition therapy for individuals and groups, including nutrition therapy services and medical nutrition therapy (PA Status Title 63). Here’s what it takes to become a Registered Dietitian in PA:
Four-year undergraduate degree in science
Apply for an accredited didactic program by the Accreditation Council in Nutrition and Dietetics
Complete 1200 hours of a clinical internship
Successfully pass the Commission on Dietetic Registration exam (Medicare even gives us a number to practice)
Apply for state licensing: you need 30 credits every 2 years to maintain your professional license. You can use the initials LDN – licensed dietitian nutritionist submit 75 continuing education credits every 5 years to the Commission on Dietetic Registration to maintain your dietitian status
Now, back to the reasons why seeking an RD is important.
We provide nutrition therapy for acute and chronic medical conditions. We are able to take a physician’s diagnosis and apply nutritional strategies to compliment other medical therapies For example, if you are diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder like Crohn’s Disease, we would be able to help you develop a meal plan that provide proper nutrition.
We can evaluate your blood chemistry and identify any deficiencies or “red flags” for you to address with your doctor. Sometimes we can see a “bigger picture” especially if we have a long-standing relationship with the client. We often have more background information regarding a client that isn’t shared with a physician. This allows us to present a different case to the physician.
We are trained to read scientific research papers, a skill that is often used to debunk popular supplement myths. This can save our clients from wasting money on products that lack efficacy and effectiveness, or that could potentially be dangerous.
Many of us are specialists: nutrition support (enteral and parenteral nutrition), renal, pediatric, sports, eating disorder, or weight loss to name a few. The Commission on Dietetic Registration provides specialty certification exams for dietitians who have been approved to take the exam. These exams allow us to practice with special populations, but the certifications expire in five years. To maintain the certification, you must apply and take another exam.
We address nutrition issues that go beyond food. Unfortunately, there are emotional, psychological, and motivational issues behind why we eat. Dietitians can provide the support and coaching necessary to move clients towards a healthier relationship with food.
We are educators. We will teach you the science behind nutrition so you can understand why we ask you to do specific things. If you have questions about popular diets, we can explain the pros and cons through science. If you understand why you’re not gaining muscle, we can explain through science. What we do is not based on a belief system. It’s based on science.
When you’re considering a fitness facility who offers weight loss, please don’t be shy and ask about their credentials. You wouldn’t go to a dentist for a root canal if they only had a weekend certification or un undergraduate degree in exercise. You would want a board-certified specialist in dentistry.