Not All Nutrition “Professionals” Are Created Equal.
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You’ve probably seen people calling themselves things like:
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🔴 “Nutritional Therapist”
🔴 “Certified Nutrition Advisor”
🔴 “Nutritional healers”
🔴 “Gut Health Coach”
🔴 “Holistic Nutritionist”
🔴 “Functional Wellness Specialist”
🔴 “Nutrition Guru”
🔴 “Wellness Expert”
🔴 “Nutritionist” (yep, just that)
🔴 Or… whatever sounds good on their website and socials.
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(Yep, that's a helluva list. Because anyone can make one up... and they do!)
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But here’s the truth no one tells you:
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ANYONE can use these titles.
No law stops them.
No training required.
No regulation to keep them in check.
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Clever wording, slick branding, and a bit of confidence can make anyone look like they know what they're doing - even if they don't.
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Here’s the brutal truth 👇
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❌ “Nutritionist” [or fill in the blank title] is NOT the same as “Dietitian”.
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Let’s break it down, so you can make an informed decision about who to trust with your health:
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🟥 Most titles in the nutrition space (including “nutritionist”) aren’t protected by law.
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🟥 Anyone can give themselves a title (except "Dietitian" - I'll cover that in a sec.) - even with ZERO qualifications!
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🟥 No minimum training. No (relevant) degree. No clinical placements. No formal standards.
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🟥 No safety net if they mess up.
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Which means Bob or Susan down the street can read a couple of books (if that), invent a shiny new title, build a flashy website and start charging clients the same day.
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And they do.
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You’ll often see these "experts":
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⚠️ Promoting detoxes, “dis-ease”, “cellular healing” or gut “cleanses”
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⚠️ Selling unapproved allergy or intolerance tests and dodgy supplements

⚠️ Claiming they’ve “healed themselves” and can now "heal" you
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⚠️ Working with medical conditions… without clinical training (scary)

⚠️ Claiming to “specialise” in things like IBS, IBD (e.g., Crohn’s or colitis), hormonal imbalances, autoimmune conditions - without ANY qualification or regulation

⚠️ Treating autoimmune disease like it’s one condition that just needs one magic supplement or treatment

⚠️ Promoting treatments for “fake” diagnoses like leaky gut
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⚠️ Offering advice for real conditions with no clinical experience, or understanding of the risks involved
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📌 Either way? It’s risky.
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Because unqualified advice doesn’t just waste time.
It can delay diagnosis, make symptoms worse, and risk your health.
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And they’re NOT allowed to practise in the NHS for a reason.
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Now compare that to a Registered Dietitian (RD) - like me 👋
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I'm not just trained and regulated - but someone who specialises in gut health, men’s health, and getting real-world results.
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A lot of people don't know what a Dietitian is.
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Some think we just help people with weight loss or tube feeding people in hospitals (e.g., a tube down the nose or directly into the stomach or small intestine)!
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Or when I say I'm a men's IBS Dietitian, they don't don't realise the scope of what that actually means.
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So let me clear it up:
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"Dietitian" is a legally protected title in the UK.
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You can’t just “call yourself” one. You have to earn it.
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Training to be a Dietitian wasn't a walk in the park.
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Here’s what it took for me:
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🎓 A First Class Honours degree in Human Nutrition to qualify to get onto an HCPC approved dietetics course...
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🎓 A Postgraduate Diploma in Dietetics (with Merit) on an HCPC approved course.
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I studied things like:

✅ ​ Biochemistry
✅ ​ Human Nutrition
✅ ​ Nutritional Medicine
✅ ​ Human Physiology
✅ ​ Diet Therapy
✅ ​ Genetics
✅ ​ Pharmacology (the study of medications)
✅ ​ Food Processing, Preservation and Food Hygiene
✅ ​ Epidemiology and Public Health
✅ ​ Behavioural Studies and communication
✅ ​ Professional Practice
✅ ​ Research Methods and Data Analysis
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My Dietetics training wasn't just theory.
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It included 7 months of full-time clinical placements across 3 x NHS trusts.
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Placements covered inpatient wards, outpatient clinics, paediatrics, critical care, mental health, and more.
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I had a growing caseload of real patients with real health conditions - and increasing responsibility every step of the way.
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And it didn’t stop there.
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To register as a Dietitian, I had other hoops to jump through, like:
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✅ Passing all uni exams
✅ Passing all clinical placements
✅ Submitting a huge portfolio of evidence
✅ Passing HCPC assessments
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And even then - I couldn't just "be" a Dietitian.
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I had to meet every HCPC standard to legally register to use the title "Dietitian".
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Why?
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Because Dietitians are regulated healthcare professionals - just like physios and radiographers.
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The British Dietetic Association (BDA) states:
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"Registered Dietitians (RDs) are the ONLY qualified health professionals that assess, diagnose and treat dietary and nutritional problems at an individual and wider public health level."
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We're trained, and legally allowed to help with things like👇
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✅ IBS and other gut conditions like IBD, Coeliac disease, diverticular disease
✅ Diabetes
✅ Kidney, liver and heart disease
✅ Malnutrition
✅ Allergies and intolerances
✅ Eating disorders
✅ Neurological diseases (e.g., Parkinson's, Motor Neurone Disease)
✅ Cancer
✅ HIV care
✅ Recovery after injury or illness
✅ General healthy eating and health promotion
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✅ And a whole lot more.
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Plus...
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💪 If further qualified like me (- a Masters degree in applied sports nutrition), we can also help people with sports and exercise nutrition.
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So yes, I specialise in IBS in men, but I’m qualified and experienced to support a wide range of issues, because I’m a Registered Dietitian.
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We can work in the NHS, hospitals, GP surgeries, private practice, education, research, media and public health.
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We’re trained to support people from infants to older adults, and across a wide range of conditions.
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And many of us choose to go deeper and specialise in a particular area, like me with IBS in men.
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🔵 But what about registered nutritionists?
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Registered nutritionists are only qualified to provide information about food and healthy eating.
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They’re NOT trained to work with medical conditions.
They CAN'T assess, diagnose or treat nutrition problems.
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(And those using made-up titles? They can do whatever they want - it comes down to confidence, integrity, and the size of their spuds).
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To call yourself a "registered nutritionist", you must be registered (voluntarily) with the Association for Nutrition (AfN).
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Many people confuse Dietitians and nutritionists and think they're interchangeable terms. They're not.
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And nutritionists can't (legally) do what Dietitians can do.
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Even the AfN says:
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“If you want to work with patients unsupervised and/or specialise in the therapeutic diets required in a hospital environment, you must train as a Dietitian.”
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Although, as you've now seen, the AfN has massively downplayed the scope of what Dietitians actually do - across primary care, community services, public health, private practice, education, and beyond.
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So... if you’re looking for help with your diet, symptoms or a medical condition…
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💡 Don't be fooled by flashy titles or clever branding.
💡 Don't waste your time, money or energy on unqualified advice.
💡 Don't risk your health on guesswork.
💡 And don’t assume every “nutrition expert” is qualified.
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Because this isn’t just about food and nutrition.
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It’s your body on the line.
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Your health. Your future. Your call.
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❌ The wrong advice can cost you way more than just money.
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👍 Want real, qualified, evidence-based support?
Talk to a Dietitian - not someone playing dress-up online.
And not just any Dietitian - choose one with the specialist focus that matches your needs.
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Sure, Tom Cruise has money to burn. Most of us don't. So choose wisely.
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Your health deserves real expertise.
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