Dietitian or nutritionist, what’s the difference?

[IBSNetwork]

If you would like one-to-one support for your IBS, who should you talk with? This is a question we are often asked.

Choosing the right person for help and advice can sometimes be confusing. The problem comes as anyone can call themselves a nutritionist – many people claim to be experts in nutrition yet have limited knowledge and offer no protection to the public. That’s not to say that there are not highly qualified registered nutritionists, but they tend to work in commercial settings or in public health.

Registered dietitians are the only nutrition professionals qualified to work with people with health conditions such as IBS. They are regulated by law and are governed by an ethical code to ensure that they always work to the highest standard.

This page on our website explains the differences between the roles and functions of dietitians, nutritionists and nutritional therapists. theibsnetwork.org/diet/

[xjrs]

Thank you for explaining this IBSNetwork . Many people can be caught out by the 'nutritionist' role. This happened to me and I became much worse off by relying on nutritionists, who, as you say, are not regulated.

[IBSNetwork Partner IBS Network in reply to xjrs]

Its important that people are seeing the correct HCP, so they get the correct advice. We hear all the time that people have seen nutritionists and not dietitians, and are following incorrect advice and been worse off for it.