What are the roles of Dietitians?

A dietitian has numerous roles to fill. No matter what your interests are surrounding food and nutrition, there is a career in dietetics that is right for you. A career in dietetics will enable you to use your strengths and skills everyday in order to teach others about the importance of healthy eating and good nutrition.

According to Dietitians of Canada, some roles of dietitians include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Identifying nutrition problems and assessing the nutritional status of patients in a clinical setting.
  • Developing diet plans and counseling patients on special diet modifications.
  • Assessing, promoting, protecting, and enhancing the health of the general public in a community setting and providing strategies for prevention of nutrition-related diseases.
  • Managing a cost effective food production operation, distributing high quality meals/snacks, and monitoring sanitation and safety standards in a food service setting.
  • Operating private consulting practices to provide expertise in nutrition, as well as promote health and prevent disease
  • Working with individuals, groups, workplaces and media to provide dietary advice for healthy living.
  • Working with food and pharmaceutical companies to provide research, develop products, educate consumers, and promote and market better food and nutritional products in a business setting.
  • Teaching nutrition, food chemistry, or food service administration to students in any health profession and at all levels of education.

For more information on the roles of a dietitian, visit Dietitians of Canada or the Alliance of Canadian Dietetic Regulatory Bodies.