Dietetics


What is A Dietitian?
 Accredited Practising Dietitians (APDs) translate scientific information about nutrition into practical advice about what to eat.

Accredited PDs:

  • Assess people's nutritional needs
  • Develop personalised eating plans and nutritional guidelines;
  • Provide information on:
    - Healthy Eating
    - Reading food labels
    - Choosing the best foods when shopping and eating out
    - Healthy ways to prepare foo
  • Sort out nutrition fact from fiction
  • Undertake nutrition and food research
  • Train health care professionals
  • Develop nutrition communications, programs and policies

APDs work in a diverse range of fields including patient care in hospitals and nursing homes, community nutrition and public health, consultancy and private practice, food service and management, the food and medical nutrition industries, public relations, marketing and communications, government, and research and teaching.

What is the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist?
In Australia there is a distinction made between dietitians and other occupations in the nutrition and food science field, including that of nutritionist.

The key difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist is that, in addition to or as part of their qualification in human nutrition, a dietitian has undertaken a course of study that included substantial theory and supervised and assessed professional practice in clinical nutrition, medical nutrition therapy and food service management.

Therefore, in Australia, all dietitians are considered to be nutritionists however, nutritionists without a dietetics qualification cannot take on the specialised role of a dietitian.

How can a dietitian help you?
Types of problems that our dietitian can assist with include;