Project Description

Dietitians are experts in food and nutrition ("dietetics"). They advise people on what to eat in order to lead a healthy lifestyle or achieve a specific health-related goal. They work in a variety of settings from clinical to community and public policy to media communications.

Registered Dietitians (RD or RDN) are dietitians who meet academic and professional requirements, including earning at least a bachelor's degree, and fulfilling a specially-designed, accredited nutrition curriculum, passing a registration exam, and completing a supervised program of practice at a health care facility, foodservice organization or community agency. Roughly half of all RDs hold graduate degrees and many have certifications in specialized fields such as sports, pediatrics, renal, oncological, food allergy, or gerontological nutrition. After learning about patients' health history, favorite foods, eating and exercise habits, an RD will help individuals set goals and prioritize. Follow-up visits often focus on maintenance and monitoring progress.

The majority of RDs work in the treatment and prevention of disease (administering medical nutrition therapy, as part of medical teams), often in hospitals, health maintenance organizations, private practices or other health care facilities. In addition, a large number of registered dietitians work in community and public health settings and academia and research. A growing number of dietitians work with food and nutrition industry and business, journalism, sports nutrition, corporate wellness programs and other non-traditional work settings

Dietitian vs. Dietician spelling

The correct or preferable spelling of dietitian has been a long-standing matter for the profession of dietetics. In the early 1960s dietetic associations, under the auspices of the International Committee of Dietetic Associations (ICDA), worked together to standardize information about dietitians under the International Standard Classification of Occupations. When the International Labour Office confirmed the dietetic profession’s classification in 1967, it also adopted the spelling “dietitian” at the request of the international dietetic community. This information can be found in the documentation held by ICDA and by the International Labour Office (ILO).

Spelling of dietitian with a “c” does not pre-date spelling as ‘dietitian’ which first appeared in print in 1846. The variant spelling "dietician" is found in print in a 1917 issue of Nation and in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1906. The origin is an evolution of physician specializing in diet – dietician. Merriam-Webster has a letter from a professional editor dated May 5, 1923, in which it is stated that "I never find any other spelling of this word than c-spelling. Hospitals and nurses invariably write it 'dietician’.” This statement is supported by a review of early published literature. Merriam-Webster has gone on to say to us that, “Admittedly, today's members of the professional community of dietitians do read "dietician” as a misspelling, and one would be hard-pressed to find an example of that spelling in publications put out by that community.”