Nutrition, also referred to as nutrition science, examines the links between diet, health and disease. People highly trained in the area of nutrition have the health professional title of nutritionists or dietitians.
Working in the field of nutrition requires that dietitians/nutritionists offer specialized healthy and safe dietary advice to those seeking solutions to health problems. As experts in food and nutrition, dietitians supervise the preparation of food, develop dieting plans, and do research in the field of nutritional habits.
Professionals can achieve the designation of registered dietitian (RD) or dietetic technician, registered (DTR).
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Schools with Nutrition Degrees
Bachelors Degree
Nutritionists have a passion for food and for eating right. They also devote their lives to being experts in food and teaching people how to live healthy lives through the foods they eat. If you’re interested in nutrition as a major, you’re in luck because not only do they have great opportunities in a variety of job positions, but they also can get very far with a bachelor’s degree.
Generally speaking, a bachelor’s program in nutrition will take about four total years of schooling. In your courses, you’ll learn the following:
- Human Anatomy
- Nutrition Facts
- Communication with Others
- Genetics
- Meal Planning
- Group Health
- Public Health
- Seasonal Foods
- History of Food and Human Processes
A major component of a bachelor’s program will be in learning not just about food but how people interact with food. As a nutritionist, your career will largely be focused on helping people maintain healthy lifestyles and gain positive results from the foods they eat so you’ll need to understand how the human body works to process foods and how that affects the overall health of an individual as well as a community.
Nutrition has always been an important field of study, but the importance is continually growing as the U.S. keeps fighting against an obese population that often doesn’t understand how to eat healthily. As fast food chains keep popping up, the role of nutritionists becomes more vital to the health of the overall public.
Once you complete your bachelor’s program, you’ll be prepared to go out into the field and start your career. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), most nutritionists hold a bachelor’s degree in the study and may also be required to get a license or certification.
Masters Degree
Although most jobs in nutrition require only a bachelor’s degree, those who go on to earn a master’s degree will gain the additional opportunities, higher positions, and higher salaries. According to the American Society for Nutrition, graduate programs in the nutritional field are aimed and increasing the role of nutritionists in the medical field. In other words, the more education and knowledge that can be passed on to medical professionals about the role of food and nutrition in health, the better.
If your goal is to work on research or in medicine related to nutrition, then a master’s degree program is ideal. The following are some of the key skills you’ll learn during a nutrition master’s degree program:
- Health Promotion
- Medical Affects of Food
- Human Processes
- Medical History and Genealogy
- Disease Prevention
- Food-Related Health Epidemics
- Medical Research Relating to Food
- Research Skills
- Working in Medical Offices
These skills are vital to keeping our public and communities healthy in the future, especially as more and more Americans (including children) are fighting against food-related diseases. The correlation between overall health and the food we eat is undeniable, however, it’s unfortunately not widely understood by most American families.
By committing to your nutrition education by getting a graduate degree, you are also dedicating yourself to educating the public through medical research and food-related diseases that can be prevented through positive meal choices.
We Can Help You Become a Nutritionist!
Below are three main steps to becoming a nutritionist.
1) Take specific courses during college or graduate studies
Before becoming a nutritionist, one has to take and complete several specific courses that are required by the Academic of Nutrition and Dietetics. These can be completed at the undergraduate level or graduate level.
The variety of subjects is all relevant to the future profession of being a nutritionist. Each of them was designed to equip individuals with the knowledge, insight and skills required to make someone fit and healthy. These subjects include food, and basic and advanced knowledge about the science of nutrition.
They also include food service systems management, so individuals can learn the operations and processes involved in the profession. Of course, there are also complementary courses such as business economics, anthropology, sociology, culinary arts and sociology. Besides that, there are also courses related to biochemistry, physiology, microbiology and human anatomy.
2) Complete internships
Once the required courses have been taken, the next step is to take the Dietetic Internships, a program that has been accredited by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND). These internships are training ground for nutritionists. They are designed to provide the interns with additional knowledge that will be valuable for them in the coming years, and let them experience the actual work as a nutritionist.
In order to apply for a Dietetic Internship, an individual must at least have a bachelor’s degree and fulfilled the coursework requirements that we have mentioned above. Most internships typically involve 1200 hours of continued supervised operation and practice. They should be completed within a span of 8 to 24 months.
There are many internships available around the world. Some of them also provide tuition and financial aid, so make sure to check out for those.
3) Pass the Registered Nutritionist (RD) Exam
Once the internship is finished, the next big step is to take the RD exam. This challenging and multi-section test precisely gauges if an individual has the capability and technical know-how to become a nutritionist. They need to be able to provide the best nutritional plan for their patients. There are four sections in the exam, including principles of dietetics, nutrition care for individuals and groups, management of food and nutrition programs and services and food service systems.
Food and nutrition sciences often involved questions related to food science, nutrition, education, research and several key management concepts that’s important to the subject. Nutrition care for individual and groups includes questions about screening, assessment, diagnosis, planning, intervention, monitoring and evaluation. Management of food and nutrition programs and services include the business side like management, human resources, marketing and quality improvement.
Finally, the food service systems, which includes menu development, procurement, production, sanitation, equipment, facilities and sustainability.
Around 125 to 140 questions are given over a period of a few hours.
Becoming a nutritionist requires time, discipline, a lot of knowledge acquisition and hard work. If you are determined to become one, make sure to follow this how to become a nutritionist list and start getting to work today!