Dietetics

Dietetic practice groups (DPGs) are special-interest groups for registered dietitians that are add-ons to Academy membership. All the different DPGs have various offerings, including electronic mailing lists and discussion boards, newsletters, live and recorded webinars, continuing education units (CEUs), speaker bureaus, mentorship programs, symposiums, virtual events, awards, grants and scholarships.

While nutrition is only a piece of the health and wellness space, it is still a broad industry. While it may seem counterintuitive to decrease the size of your potential client pool, niching down can be a very successful business tactic and has many potential benefits in terms of both marketing strategy and job satisfaction.

Dietitians cannot diagnose eating disorders as making medical diagnoses is outside their scope of practice. However, they are part of the healthcare team providing treatment for people with eating disorders. Per the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, dietitians are to be included in all phases of eating disorder recovery.

Dietitians cannot prescribe medications, including diet pills and injections. However, working with a dietitian, alongside taking weight loss medications, is generally recommended. Per the American Nutrition of Dietetics, nutrition care by a dietitian is a “vital part of the comprehensive obesity management,” whether weight loss medications are used or not.

In most countries, dietitians cannot prescribe medication. However, there are some situations in which dietitians can start or adjust medications based on specific protocols and procedures. In the US, dietitians can “initiate, implement and adjust” medication orders that are “protocol- or physician-order-driven” per the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

In the US, as well as around the world, the dietetics profession has made it very clear that dietitian is spelled with a T, not a C! In 1930, at an annual American Dietetic Association meeting, the executive committee decided that the official spelling would be dietitian.

Dietitians are healthcare professionals, but they have not gone to medical school, therefore are not medical doctors. While doctors have more training overall, dietitians have significantly more education in nutrition specifically. Ideally, patients are working with an entire healthcare team to manage their nutrition-related medical conditions, including both a doctor and a dietitian.