Difference Between a Dietician and Nutritionist Explained

In recent times, the awareness of a healthy lifestyle has increased. To achieve their health specific goals, individuals are shifting to gym, diet and exercise. When it comes to diet, individuals seek help from dieticians and nutritionists. However, most are unaware of the fact that the two differ from each other.

Interested in knowing what the differences between a dietician and a nutritionist are? Read along to learn about it.

A dietician is a qualified and regular health professional who assists, diagnoses, and treats individuals' nutrition-related and dietary problems.

The main jobs of a dietician are as follows:

• Communicating with the clients to know about their health goals and dietary needs, preferences and restrictions
• Curating a nutrition plan according to the client's needs
• Tracking how much their client has progressed toward their health goals
• Communicating on larger scales to promote healthy eating habits and nutrition

A nutritionist is someone who has expertise in managing health and diseases with the use of food and nutrition. They advise people on what they should eat to achieve their health-related goals.

The main jobs of a nutritionist are:

• Understand the client's dietary needs by examining their exercise levels, food habits, sleep patterns, etc.
• Explain the importance of nutrients for the improvement of overall health
• Construct personalised nutrition plans that promote a healthy lifestyle, taking into account the client's cost and preferences
• Suggest positive alterations in the client's diet to make it healthier
• Expand field related knowledge related to nutrition and the benefits it has on one’s body functions
• Promote the need for a good diet by talking about it among the mass

Although the type of work both do is very similar to each other, let us take a look at the differences between a dietician and a nutritionist based on the below parameters-

• Type of Work

The first point of difference between dieticians vs nutritionists lies in their type of work. The work of dieticians is to treat medical conditions through medicinal therapy and promote nutritional well-being in individuals. For example, a dietician would suggest a meal plan for someone who has obesity to help them manage their weight better.

On the other hand, nutritionists primarily focus on promoting healthy eating habits to maintain a healthy lifestyle for individuals. They do not treat any particular disease or illness. Instead, they work with healthy individuals who wish to improve their lifestyle by making the right kind of choices while choosing food.

• Regulation of Both the Terms

The second difference between nutritionists and dieticians is the regulation of terms. To practise as a dietician, individuals first need to get a license as a dietician. Besides, individuals need to meet specific requirements to regulate themselves as dieticians in many parts of the world. Since the profession of dietetics includes the identification of illnesses and diseases and their treatment, only eligible individuals should be known as dieticians.

Whereas on the other hand, individuals do not need to pass any exam or get any license to call themselves a nutritionist. So, many countries have now introduced terms like “registered nutritionist” so that qualified individuals can register with nutrition associations.

• Change of Subject at the End of Degree

The third difference between nutritionist and dietician are in the subjects they study. Although both the courses start with similar subjects, in the beginning, it substantially changes towards the end of the degree.

Students who want to become dieticians study subjects like clinical biochemistry, medical nutrition therapy, and therapeutic diet preparations. Apart from that, three types of placements are available for dietetic students. They can either choose clinical placement, food-related service or community dietetics placement.

In contrast, students taking up nutrition will study subjects completely related to nutrition. They have subjects like- nutrition education and promotion, nutrition programme planning and assessment and nutrition for sports and physical activity. They focus more on studying the subject of nutrition.

• Place of Work

The fourth difference between dietician and nutritionist is the place of work the two professions have. Although the primary focus of both dieticians and nutritionists is to promote health and a healthy lifestyle, their areas of work are different.

On the one hand, dieticians work in hospitals and health clinics where they assist, diagnose and prescribe dietary changes to patients. Sometimes, they even extend their workplaces to insurance companies, pharmacies, and other healthcare industry sectors.

On the other hand, nutritionists are mostly seen working at fitness and wellness centres, assisting clients with dietary consultations and meal plans. They extend their workplaces to health food restaurants and large corporations where they plan value meals for common people. Other than that, they sometimes also work with governmental agencies and educate the general public on health and awareness.

In conclusion, both nutritionists and dieticians work to make people's eating habits healthier and better. Both these professions preach the importance of health as a whole and how food plays a major role in it.

Now that individuals know about the difference between a dietician and a nutritionist, they can consult either one according to their needs. Individuals can take help from a suitable professional and take a step ahead towards a healthy life.