Has anyone trained as a nutritionist?

pinkie_pie

Or any general advice please! Looking at the BSc held by CNELM but can't find any reviews about it!

grastgirl

Not to be funny, but are you sure you mean nutritionist, not dietitian? Dietitians usually work within the NHS (at least initially) to treat people who have diet related diseases. Nutritionists usually work in the food industry, public health or research.

You could try http://www.whatuni.com/ to see what reviews there are. You need to make sure the course is accredited by the appropriate professional society for what you want to do. I would recommend those accredited by the Association of Nutrition. I notice the CNELM one is more nutritional therapy and leads to a different accreditation under "complementary therapy", so may not be as "rigorous".

Annisele

There are nutritionists in the NHS - but there are also an awful lot of quacks using the term. Since you're talking about a BSc, I doubt you're planning on going down the quackery route.

I'm also curious about what made you choose nutritionist over dietitian.

pinkie_pie

Thanks for the replies

No, I mean nutritionist! The key difference for me being supporting mostly healthy people, as opposed to the clinically unwell which a dietician deals with. Also I have near to no interest in working for the nhs as I have only just escaped them

The cnelm course is distance learning (appealing as I can maintain my current decent paying job) and is in 'nutritional science'. I know what you mean about the accreditation (I don't think any distance learning courses are accredited by them) but there are other professional bodies which while they sound a little 'hokey' they still appear to be on a par. I was concerned it was a little 'quacky' but it has a lot of biology and chemistry in it and employment opportunities in many sensible sounding environments (in surestart, advisor for food manufacturers, private referrals from gp for example).

BillJones

pinkie_pie wrote: »

Or any general advice please! Looking at the BSc held by CNELM but can't find any reviews about it!

As above, "Nutritionist" is not a legally protected title, so anyone at all can call themselves one. Even, for example, Gillian McKeith (or, to give her her ful legal title, Gillian McKeith).

It implies nothing about training or expertise. Dietician is the protected title, that requires training and qualifications (and so is about science and health, rather than analysiing poo and selling "horny goat weed" to the gullible).

No, I mean nutritionist! The key difference for me being supporting mostly healthy people, as opposed to the clinically unwell

Dieticians do both. The key difference is not in what they are supposed to do, but in how they are trained to do it.

pinkie_pie

You study science in a nutrition degree so I don't believe that is entirely true. I'm a nurse so aware of the role of dieticians, and I view the role of a nutritionist very differently. I understand that your view however is widely regarded as standard which may be a general barrier to nutrition as a successful career.