The Difference Between a Nutritional Therapist, Nutritionist, Naturopath, Health Coach and Dietician

• Nutritional therapist

• Nutritionist

• Dietician

• Naturopath

• Health Coach

When you hear these terms you think, aren’t these just describing the same thing?

Granted, these five professional titles do indeed refer to the field of nutrition and working within the interest of public health and wellbeing. However, it might interest you to know that there are some differences in the way that these professionals work and how their titles are recognised within the industry as a whole.

Since I often get asked about the nature of what I do and how I work, I thought it would be sensible to compile all of this information into an easy-to-understand article, highlighting the differences between a nutritional therapist, nutritionist, dietician, naturopath and health coach.

What is a Nutritional Therapist?

A Nutritional Therapist (NT) is somebody who helps people to improve longevity, alleviate chronic disease symptoms and prevent illness through the use of functional foods, testing, diet, fasting and supplements. A Nutritional Therapist’s role is to provide dietary counselling, assessment and support for those seeking to reach their health goals by taking a holistic approach in their care.

Unfortunately, the title of Nutritional Therapist is not regulated by law which means that anybody, regardless of their qualifications, can call themselves a Nutritional Therapist. If you are searching for an NT, you want to ensure that they are registered with a regulatory body, which seeks to ensure that the NT is practising with professional standards and continues to develop their knowledge within the field via CPD (Continuous Practitioner Development). The regulatory bodies that you will often find associated with Nutritional Therapists include:

• British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT)

• Federation of Nutritional Therapy Practitioners (FNTP)

• ANP (Association of Naturopathic Practitioners)

• Naturopathic Nutrition Association (NNA)

• Complementary Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC)

There are NTs who have trained to degree-level and there are those who have completed intensive 3-year clinical diplomas, gaining academic knowledge as well as 1:1 clinical experience. Whilst there are various training routes to becoming a Registered Nutritional Therapist, if you always ensure to check for “Registered” in their title and examine their regulatory body, you shouldn’t go far wrong!

Another thing to highlight is that NTs are trained as complementary therapists. They are trained to work with medical issues by viewing the body as one whole, interconnected system.

So what’s the confusing part? I’m getting there!

With NTs we are only advised to call ourselves Nutritional Therapists in the setting of working 1:1 in private clinical practise. The confusion starts when we start to do public work. Whether that is a talk at an event, a television or radio interview, or alternatively an article in a newspaper or magazine, it is encouraged in these cases that we refer to ourselves as Registered Nutritionists.

What is a Nutritionist?

Just like the title Nutritional Therapist, the term Nutritionist is also not a legally regulated one.

Generally speaking, most Nutritionists tend to operate within the remit of public health and wellbeing, taking part in various media, government and journalism projects. Some do operate in private clinical practise too, though, like NTs. For these types of Nutritionists, the training is slightly different to that of the Nutritional Therapy model but often they do still tend to adopt a holistic approach in their work.

A lot of nutritionists (RNutr) tend to be regulated by a board called the Association for Nutrition (AfN), which tends to accept registrants who are degree-level qualified (i.e. BSc or MSc) and have had 3 years experience working in the field. However, as mentioned above, there is some confusion as to what constitutes a Nutritionist versus a Nutritional Therapist, and there is some ongoing in-house debate between regulatory boards on this one!

Some boards would have it that you must be degree-qualified to earn the title of Registered Nutritionist, whereas other boards argue that intensive 3-4 year long diplomas, clinical experience and training, with ongoing CPD education, awards the rights to this title by its own merit. This confusion is also bolstered by the fact that NTs, as mentioned above, are encouraged to refer to themselves as Nutritionists publicly, whereas clinically they should refer to themselves as Nutritional Therapists.

Yes - it is very confusing indeed!

In my personal case, I tend to float between the titles of Registered Nutritionist and Registered Nutritional Therapist, depending on the medium in which I am working (whether this is in private clinical practise or public media work). I do hope, though, that as time goes on, the industry provides further clarity into how we should cement our professional titles moving forwards.

What is a Dietician?

A Dietician is the only of these various healthcare professionals that tends to work within the NHS (there are however some exceptions).

Dieticians work with those diagnosed with medical conditions such as kidney disease, cancer and diabetes, however some dieticians work on nutrition projects in the media and government, too.

Unlike the terms Nutritional Therapists, Nutritionists and Naturopaths, the title Dietician is a legally protected title, regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Dieticians also tend to become members of a body called the British Dietetic Association (BDA).

What is a Naturopath?

A Naturopath is a health practitioner who applies natural therapies. It is a system of alternative medicine based on the theory that diseases can successfully be supported or prevented through interventions such as diet, lifestyle, movement, herbs and supplements. Since naturopathy is based on principles and not any specific therapy, you can find a naturopath practising as a Nutritionist, Herbalist, Homeopath or Acupuncturist.

I would liken naturopathy to a philosophy based upon advising dietary and lifestyle intervention, which is particularly useful in dealing with chronic disease (i.e. those clients who have been to the GP many times with a series of symptoms, but no resolutions to their health concerns). You might often hear the term Functional Medicine associated with the field of naturopathy, which is also applicable to this mode of practise.

Naturopaths use a holistic, patient-centred approach, treating each individual as unique and taking into consideration diet, lifestyle, genetics, psychology and physiology. They look at the root causes of illness, rather than focussing solely on the symptom or disease itself. For example, an individual’s diagnosis can be the result of various factors or dysregulations in the body. Each system is viewed as interconnected and a naturopath can help to spot imbalances that occur, using functional testing methods. A naturopath will work with a client to determine the underlying cause behind the chronic illness and work to implement a protocol to restore optimum health and vitality.

Just like the fields of Nutritional Therapy, Nutrition and Dietetics, Naturopaths also use evidence-based science within their practise.

What is a Health Coach?

An accountability provider - to keep you accountable for the lifestyle habits that you make and championing you to enforce changes to your daily habits. Health Coaches tend to operate privately via 1:1 coaching work, health retreats and business endeavours.

The term Health Coach is not a regulated title and again, many tend to practise without qualifications, which is a real shame. If you are searching for a Health Coach, then I would recommend looking for some form of certification to evidence that what advice being given is trustworthy and that they have committed to learning their trade.

Conclusion

In a world where so many professionals are considered experts in the field of food, health and human nutrition, added with the influx of online health and fitness influencers, it seems that absolutely anybody these days can give advice over the internet.

In a world where it is hard to know exactly who to trust, ensure that you always remain dubious of a person’s credentials and whether somebody is practising without a valid qualification. Make sure that the person you are taking advice from has suitably trained, studied and worked hard to earn their knowledge in order to impart this critical information onto you.

Thinking of a Career in Health/Nutrition?

Interested in making wellbeing your career? Over the years I’ve been flooded with enquiries asking about my experience in training to becoming a Nutritional Therapist and Naturopath. Everything from where did I train? Was it good training? Does your career now bring in enough to support you full time? 

I realised these were all the answers I wanted to know too before I enrolled on an expensive course, invested in years of time studying and parted with a large sum of money. I wanted to hear it not from a biased institute but from someone who has personally been through it and carved out a career in the area I wanted to venture into. If you’re interested in gaining some clarity and want all of your questions answering, feel free to book a Course Clarity Call with me.