Nutritionist

What does a nutritionist do?

Dietitians and nutritionists primarily supervise meal preparation, oversee the serving of meals and plan food and nutrition programs. They promote health eating habits and recommend dietary modifications in order to prevent and treat illnesses.

For service systems for institutions, including schools and hospitals, dietitians conduct research and promote sound eating habits through education. From there, many dietitians specialize, becoming community dietitian, management dietitian, clinical dietitian or consultant.

In hospitals, nursing care facilities and other institutions, clinical dietitians provide nutritional services to patients. Some of their responsibilities include, assessing patients nutritional needs, developing nutrition programs and evaluating and reporting on results. They must also communicate with healthcare professionals to coordinate nutritional and medical needs. In nursing care facilities, small hospitals or correctional facilities, clinical dietitians may manage the food service department.

Focus:

• Designing individual nutritional therapies to address specific health issues, such as unhealthy weight, diabetes or hypertension
• Developing facility-wide nutrition programs for health care, educational, correctional and other institutions
• Increasing public awareness of proper nutritional standards and habits
• Improving the accuracy and comprehension of food labels
• Ensuring the safety of our food supply
• Researching how changes in diet (such as reducing salt intake) affect health (by reducing blood pressure)
• Working with food manufacturers to improve the nutritional quality of prepared foods

Education

The minimum education requirement for most positions as a dietitian or nutritionist is a bachelors degree in dietetics, food service systems management, foods and nutrition or another related area. Graduate degrees may also be pursued. Common course loads include, nutrition, food, statistics, psychology, economics, computer science and sociology.

Salary

Dietitians and nutritionists have a median annual wage of $52,150. The highest 10 percent earn more than $74,690, while the lowest 10 percent earn less than $33,230. The middle 50 percent earn between $42,400 and $63,460. The median annual wages for top industries for dietitians and nutritionists are:

Outpatient care centers: $52,120
General medical and surgical hospitals: $51,390
Nursing care facilities: $47,390
Local government: $47,390
Special food services: $45,410

Sources

http://www.campusexplorer.com/careers/F63457EB/dietitians-and-nutritionists/

http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/Field/25/NutritionDietetics