Career change: is becoming a nutritionist worth it?

[Kittenmumma]

I am a professional with 10+ years experience in HR, I hold a masters degree in English Literature and am starting to consider what else I could do with my life.
I have always been interested in nutrition and I like the fact that it could be a career that leads to different avenues, including potentially working for myself.
I assume I would need to go back to study for a degree, which is a big investment (time and money as I work full time and have a small child) so not sure I’m ready for it.
Is it worth it? What is the pay like and what are the job opportunities? Will AI eventually replace the need for nutritionists as well?

Do you mean dietician? In that case, yes, you need a degree. Nutritionist is a "made up" role - anyone can call themselves a nutritionist. NHS dieticians go up to band 7 - I'd expect a band 7 to have some managerial responsibilities. (I was a nurse, not a dietician. Band 7 nurse, would be a Ward Manager). Hopefully some dieticians will come along with better information for you. Good Luck.

To be a dietician you must complete an approved degree in Dietetics and register with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC).

To be a nutritionist you can do a online noddy course then spout a load of rubbish.

So it depends if you want to be a proper medical professional or a charlatan

I just don’t think I have the time, energy or budget to enrol into a Bachelor’s degree.
i was thinking of a course like this: https://www.futurefit.co.uk/online-nutrition-course-training-ppc-exv1/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=LOC-LSE-LON&utm_content=SON&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19659028303&gbraid=0AAAAADOUqe4Wv-vQKQKI2ofIzjkin1TbI&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyqmc9s3DjQMV16JQBh12IiByEAAYASAAEgIAF_D_BwE#row-159160-1

but no point in doing it if useless

There is a shortage of properly qualified and experience registered dieticans. The length of their training reflects the complexity of the job requirements.

There is no shortage of “nutritionists” or providers of meaningless certificate for said nutritionists. There are also no qualifications required, its a meaningless title in job terms.

Personally I wouldn’t waste money or time on dietary advice from someone who wasn’t a properly qualified dietician.

As someone who has spent over half her life suffering from daily digestive issues and seen several state registered dietitians and a couple of nutritionists I can honestly say the nutritionists have been more helpful than the dietitians.

I am thinking about training to become a nutritionist myself.

I know someone who retrained as a nutritionist a few years back-it was very interesting but she didn't make enough money to be a viable business. Her husband earns very good money though, so it's something she does that she enjoys whilst waiting for him to retire, rather than something that provides an income.

I was coming on to say be prepared to be disliked by dietitians if you do become a nutritionist.

I used to work with a few dietitians and they were very snooty about nutrionists..

I know someone who I suspect has an eating disorder who trained as a nutritionist a few years ago. It was quite an intense course over a couple if years iirc. She does specialised courses which seem fairly expensive but no idea how many clients she has or whether that's a standard price. She doesn't need to do it to earn a living though.

Ben Goldacre was famously able to get his dead cat Hetty officially certified as a nutritionist with the same qualifications as Gillian McKeith.

An awful lot of "nutritionism" is pure woo. Diet and health is a lot more complicated than people who would like to make money off advising on it would like. If you want a reliable income stream from a new career, you're going to need to invest in quality retraining, else it would probably be cheaper and more sensible for interested parties just to do the same online course on nutrition as you.

Of course it’s useless - unless you own futurefit! It’s not a regulated or qualified profession. It’s a hustle. Just watch a few YouTube videos, create a website and congratulations - you’re now a nutritionist!

To add, I think they were a bit close minded - I used to know a nutritionist who was v scientific (had a biochemistry phd) and she had a v scientific approach, but doing a quick course i imagine you will be in a crowded market.

I did that course years ago as part of my Personal training course. I couldn’t have made a career out of it.

You may as well print yourself at home certificate now.

What they all said.

if you want a “career” you need a dietetics degree and a career plan. Promotion, CPD, the usual.

if you want a bit of a hobby that may or may not make you money, then crack on with the internet “courses” and sell yourself as a nutritionist.

oh and ETA generally “nutritionists” are a package with PT, as pp said. The only nutritionists I have come across do it either because they are PT’s, or their boyfriends are, and he sells their nutrition aspect as part of his PT package.

you need a customer base- even if you do the online courses and are good at it, where will your clients come from? Are you good at self promotion and putting yourself out there?

Doing an online course is hardly equivalent to a career change though 🤔 Isn’t ‘nutritionist’ one of those made up online roles like ‘life coach’ or ‘influencer’?

And rightly so.

As Dara O’Brien once quipped, it’s the equivalent of a dentist v a toothiologist.

There is no approved set of materials for people wanting to be a nutritionist. There appears to be very little science in most of what they peddle.

I’m not sure who’d pay for advice - so much content available online? It’s more that we choose not to follow it 😬

If nothing else, it's not future-proof. It is a role I can see AI doing reliably within the next 5 years.

Someone who has spent years training, certifying and gaining the relevant professional supervised experience is fully entitled to feel snooty about the next wannabe who sets up shop without even the requirement to do the classic distance learning home cert.

Its a protected title for a reason. Using “nutritionist” is too often a handy way around that protection.

As someone who studied a 4 year Full time BSc in Nutrition AND Dietetics involving one year full time in hospital and community dietetics, clinics etc including 8week in hospital catering - I have spent many years unpicking dodgy nutrition advice with my clients / patients. I studied 30 +hours per week at uni including 6 hours of Lab work per week. Modules in biochemistry, organic chemistry, food science, Nutrition, Microbiology, anatomy and physiology, pathology, cell biology, medicine, sports nutrition, molecular biology &Genetics, pharmacology lipid metabolism, growth and development etc etc etc so I feel very concerned when some people call themselves nutritionists and are not even registered or regulated by a respected professional body. So no real consequences for them if dodgy, non evidence based advice is given! A registered Nutritionist (Bsc in Nutrition) or a Registered Dietitian is the only profession qualified and regulated to treat people suffering from medical conditions. This is for a reason people! And no…most doctors are not really - I’m looking at you Dr Chris VT and several others!! There is a thing in I see in nutrition especially called the Dunning Kruger effect (I think it’s called that anyway!) where “you don’t know what you don’t know” - Many people advising in nutrition fit this bill!!

my advice is look at Dietetic assistant roles? Or an MSc Nutrition or Dietetics? Be the gold standard!

As pp have said anyone can claim to be a nutritionist and this is incredibly damaging for people who have dedicated years of their lives studying this. Aside from Dietitians, there are also Registered Nutritional Therapy practitioners (members of BANT and CNHC) who are evidence based and work one to one with clients. They have to pass rigorous clinic hours and have to have a BSc degree in Nutritional therapy, they also have to complete CPD annually to keep up their professional membership. Unfortunately this profession can be misrepresented and considered part of the group of nutritionists who practice unethically or without quality qualifications. They offer a different service to Dietitians but are incredibly robustly trained.

Hi! 👋, I trained as a Dietitian (last century! 😜). The degree or postgrad training sets you up to work in hospitals mostly, and is very scientific. It sounds as though that’s not what you want!

As others have said, the term “nutritionist” isn’t legally protected, so anyone can call themselves one. Whether they’ve read a book or done a degree (or beyond).

It’s a pretty saturated market, so if you go ahead, I’d recommend setting yourself apart from the rest and specialising in something that really interests you.

I agree, unless you are ready to get a medical degree and become a dietician and work in a scientific/clinical/medical environment, ChatGPT is already a phenomenal nutritionist!