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00:00How do you know who to trust when it comes to nutrition advice on social media or online?
00:04My name is Sinead. I'm a registered dietitian and performance nutritionist. In this quick video,
00:08I'm going to give you a breakdown of who you can trust when it comes to nutrition advice
00:12online. It is no lie to say that it has become an absolute minefield when it comes to nutrition
00:18and also health advice online as well. As a healthcare professional, I have to say some of
00:23it is obviously incorrect, but it's also quite worrying as well because at the end of the day,
00:27it's our health. So it's important that we follow the right information and the right people. So the
00:31idea for this video kind of came on because if you follow me on social media or on Instagram,
00:36you would have seen that I put up a reintroduction post. And to be honest, I actually hadn't done one
00:40in, I can't even remember how long, at least over a year. And I was kind of just losing a
00:45lot of new
00:45faces. So I just wanted to introduce myself, tell everyone a little bit about me. And as a result of
00:50that, I got a lot of comments and also messages saying that it's great to know that basically
00:55I'm legit. And then I have nutrition qualifications to give out nutrition advice. And I do because
01:00I'm a registered dietitian and I'm also a registered nutritionist as well. As a result of that,
01:04I put up a poll asking if people would find it helpful if I went through what is the difference
01:09between a nutritionist and a dietitian. And maybe when you are following people online,
01:14who should you be following or what should you look out for when you're taking their advice?
01:17I want to start off by saying, and this is really important, this is an objective video.
01:21It's based on facts. It's not based on my opinion. I've got all my information from the British
01:26Dietetic Association in the UK, the NHS in the UK, the INDI, which is the Irish Nutrition
01:31and Dietetic Institute in Ireland, and also the HSE, which is the health service executive
01:35in Ireland too. Many people online claim to be experts in nutrition these days. And to be honest,
01:42I would never expect the general population to be able to decide for between maybe who is
01:46legit and who isn't. Because unfortunately it is an unregulated area, the whole kind of term
01:52nutritionist. And we'll get into that in a minute. I obviously work in the area, so I obviously know
01:57a lot about it. In other areas, I wouldn't have a clue. And I would love to get direction on
02:01who best
02:01to follow, particularly when it comes to health advice, because at the end of the day, our health
02:06is more important than probably anything in this world. So firstly, let's talk about registered dietitians.
02:12I suppose you can probably think of a dietitian as like the gold standard when it comes to nutrition
02:17information. Dietitians are qualified healthcare professionals who translate science into everyday
02:22language. In fact, dietitians are the only qualified healthcare professional who assess, diagnose, and
02:29treat dietary problems at both an individual and population level. The work of a dietitian is actually
02:35quite broad. So they are qualified to work with both healthy and sick individuals. So you could work
02:41with people who are unwell in hospital or in residential care or in community. You could also
02:47go into something like the food industry, research, you could set up a private practice. I suppose the
02:52one big distinction with a dietitian is that they are qualified to provide medical nutritional therapy.
02:58So that is, you know, same working with people who have a medical condition like diabetes, chronic
03:03kidney disease, food allergies, say for example, in paediatrics. Because as a dietitian, we have the
03:08training to provide that care. If we're looking at say a hospital, a dietitian would be part of that
03:14multidisciplinary team along with physiotherapists, speech and language, nurses, doctors, the rest of
03:19that, MDT. One huge thing with the dietitians as well is that it's a protected title. So if you see
03:25somebody calling themselves a dietitian, they have to have qualifications to get there. They can't just say
03:30they're a dietitian unless they have a degree in dietetics. Dietitians are also regulated. So in
03:36Ireland, we're regulated by CORU and in the UK, they're regulated by the HCPC. CORU is actually set
03:42up to protect the public from us providing any misinformation or misconduct in our care. So part
03:48of that, we're bound by a code of ethics. And you know, obviously, as a healthcare professional,
03:52you're going to be ethical in your care. But there is strict rules, regulations in place,
03:56and we can be heavily penalized as a result. So obviously, because dietetics is a protective
04:01term, you have to have the relevant qualifications to actually qualify for one. So how do you become
04:06a dietitian? Well, to be honest, it is a rigorous process. You could do an undergraduate degree in
04:11dietetics. Ireland is four. Some of the UK colleges have three years. Or you could do a master's in
04:16dietetics as well. But your undergrad has to be some way related to say physiology. A master's in
04:21dietetics is typically two years. So for example, I did my undergraduate degree in human
04:26nutrition, that was a Bachelor of Science. And then I did my master's in science in clinical
04:30nutrition and dietetics. So that was six years in total. In addition to all the college work,
04:34dietitians also have to complete clinical placement. So that is basically where you're
04:38working on site as a clinical dietitian, you have lots of different supervisors, and you're
04:43basically shown and taught into lots of different areas. So it's kind of practical teaching of it.
04:47That is really rigorous. It's really tough. It's at least 1000 hours in Ireland so that you're normally
04:53timetabled for over a thousand hours if, you know, God forbid you got unwell or something during it,
04:58and you have to take time off. The master's that I did, it was split up into two. So we
05:01did 14 weeks
05:02of non-acute placement, which was in like community, in public health, or health promotion, or industry.
05:10And then we did 14 weeks of acute, which is basically in a hospital for 14 weeks. There's lots
05:15of different competencies that you have to pass to pass that placement. You know, it's easy enough to
05:21fail it. It's tough. The standard is really high. A lot is expected of you. And you have to pass
05:26that
05:26placement to become a dietitian. The course of dietetics is you cover a lot in it. So people
05:32think it's kind of just learning about food, but it's actually really not. So it's a lot of
05:35physiology. So learning about the body, learning about diseases and the management of them,
05:39and biochemistry as well. So it is, it's a challenging course. It's good, but it is tough.
05:44And in Ireland, you could call yourself a dietitian or a registered dietitian, but they're both
05:48protected. So somebody has to have done that qualification to be able to call themselves
05:52that. So if you see someone online calling themselves dietitian, you can be rest assured
05:56that they do have a degree in dietetics because they can't call themselves that otherwise. So
06:01as dietitians, we are regulated and that legal registration is a big deal. So as part of that,
06:07we would have to keep up with continuous professional development each year. And we have to show proof
06:11that we did that. And we're keeping up to date with all the new research, new trainings,
06:15all that kind of thing. We're also regulated by KORU. So with KORU, they put the public first. So it's
06:21in
06:21the interest of the public that we're not basically giving out misinformation. We have to abide by an
06:26ethical code of conduct. And we are always required to work to the highest standard. So if a dietitian
06:31behaves in a manner that is unprofessional or unethical, that can be reported to KORU, that can be
06:37investigated and potentially we could lose our license. So KORU is there to protect you, the public.
06:43So that's why particularly on social media, you will not see a dietitian giving out rogue information
06:48or making very strong statements because one, we probably would just never do that. But two,
06:54we also are regulated as well. So we do have to be careful what we're saying. And in Ireland, the
06:58HSE
06:59will only employ registered dietitians who are registered with KORU in say, a hospital or in a
07:05community setting or residential setting as well. Okay, so now we'll move on to nutritionists. I suppose
07:11this is probably where it gets a little bit confusing. So firstly, unlike a dietitian who
07:17can work with people who are unwell or well, so maybe people with medical conditions or people
07:22who are generally healthy, a nutritionist works with generally healthy people. And most of the role
07:27of the nutritionist is in industry, but a nutritionist is not able to work in say a hospital
07:32or they're not able to be employed by the HSE to work in immunity nutrition clinic. That would be the
07:37role of a dietitian. One huge distinction between a nutritionist and a dietitian is that a nutritionist
07:44is not a protected title. So that means technically anyone could call themselves a nutritionist,
07:50unlike a dietitian where you have to have the qualifications to do so because there is no
07:54regulation around it, which is really unfortunate. So I know in the UK, there's a strong movement to
07:59try and get it regulated. There still hasn't been that, but hopefully in the coming few years,
08:03that is going to change. That's definitely where the waters get muddy because people could have done
08:09an undergraduate degree in nutrition, they could have done a master's, they could have done a PhD,
08:14but they're still called nutritionists as opposed to somebody maybe who's done a two-day course,
08:18a two-week course, a two-month course. And that genuinely is what the difference could be,
08:23which is crazy. People who have done like a university qualification will typically call themselves
08:27a registered nutritionist, but that is registered with a voluntary body called the Association for
08:32Nutrition in the UK. You might see the letters R-N-U-T-R after their name or A-N
08:37-U-T-R after
08:37their name. A lot of nutritionists who are registered would use that term registered nutritionist
08:42to, I suppose, try to distinguish yourself from somebody who doesn't have a degree.
08:46Nutritionists are not clinically trained to treat those medical conditions that a dietitian would be.
08:52BDA, the British Dietetic Association, makes it really clear that nutritionists can give out
08:56information about healthy eating, but not about special diets for medical conditions.
09:01Hypertension, type 2 diabetes, whatever it may be. So technically they're medical conditions,
09:05they should be seen by a dietitian. So you might see a nutritional therapist,
09:10and that sometimes isn't based on scientific evidence, and it could be alternative types of
09:16medicine or using lots of different supplements or something like that. When it comes to food,
09:20we all eat, we all have an interest in food, we all have likes and dislikes. And, you know,
09:25I think as a result of that, people feel like they can give advice. Definitely a really important line
09:29between having your own personal experience. That's fine. We all have that. But then I think
09:34giving other people advice that relates to their health, I think is not okay if you're not qualified
09:39to do that. Unlike dietitians, nutritionists aren't regulated by law. So that means, you know,
09:44they don't have CORI or the HCPC that they're registered with. So, you know, technically they don't
09:50have a license that, you know, if they're acting unlawfully or unethically, that that can be revoked,
09:55because they're not registered with a regulatory body. I would be very weary of people who are not
10:01saying their qualifications and letting it known. It's like if I was giving my car into a garage,
10:07I would want to know when I'm paying this money that it's actually being looked at by someone who
10:12is a mechanic and not a plumber, that kind of thing. And I know that sounds bizarre, but that genuinely
10:17is what sometimes happens. Personally, so I did an undergraduate, Bachelor of Science degree in
10:22Human Nutrition. In UCD, so that was four years. So I was a registered nutritionist after that.
10:26And I suppose one of the big things while I went into dietetics, kind of knowing I wasn't going to
10:30work in a hospital long term, but I wanted to set up my own clinic. And I knew as a
10:37dietitian, you have
10:38much more options as to who you can work with. So if I was doing nutrition, I probably would have
10:42gone into sports. I did do a post-grading sports. But other than that, you're kind of limited to working
10:48with people who are generally well, who might just want to, you know, eat a little bit healthier,
10:52as opposed to maybe working with women who have PCOS, endometriosis. So in conclusion, just to
10:58summarize all that, the kind of main differences are dietitians, the term is regulated. So if someone's
11:03calling themselves a dietitian, they have to have the necessary qualifications. Nutritionist is not
11:08regulated. So technically anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, which is unfortunate. The second one
11:15is because we're regulated, we have a code of ethics that we need to comply with, we can get
11:19reported to Coru. Coru are there to protect the public, not to protect us. Whereas that's not the
11:26case with the nutritionist. So they don't have, I suppose, as much regulation in terms of their
11:31practice or education and training is another one. If someone is a registered dietitian, you can be
11:35sure that they do have the relevant training and education. That's not to say all dietitians are perfect.
11:41They're absolutely not. However, with the nutritionist, there are some absolutely amazing
11:45nutritionists out there and it is frustrating for them because the qualifications can vary hugely.
11:51So I would just do a little bit of homework. If you are thinking of working with a nutritionist,
11:55just ask what qualifications they are. And again, it's up to you, but that's personally what I would do.
12:00Scope of practice, dietitians can work with people who are unwell and who are well. Nutritionists
12:05typically work with people who are well, who just want to eat maybe a little bit healthier,
12:08or then they could work in something like research food industry, which a dietitian can also work
12:13into. I hope you found this helpful. I send out information every day via email straight to your
12:18inbox for free. So if you want those tips from me, I'll pop the link in the bio.
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