CAREER AS A DIETICIAN

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Updated on Jul 27, 2011 04:26 IST

Eating right and staying healthy is a real challenge now more than ever before, because with busy schedules and a hectic lifestyle, we rely more and more on restaurants and convenience foods to provide our meals and good nutrition. Learning how to eat right and to succeed at our diet and health goals requires someone knowledgeable who can simplify the complexities of good nutrition and be able to translate that into simple goals that we can all apply and achieve. Dietician is a specialist in the study of nutrition and as a professional provides scientifically based, objective nutrition information, which helps resolve nutrition and diet challenges.

The Prospects

Job openings for dieticians exist in hotels, hospitals, in the processed food industry, health clinics, gymnasiums, non-government organizations, food services industry, big industrial houses and at institutes/universities that train dieticians. The prospects are good in all fields, except teaching, where the opportunities are restricted. Considering the latest craze for health food, the most lucrative openings are in the field of private enterprise. Residential schools, railways and airline offices also employ dieticians to supervise their catering services.

The Job

A dietician applies scientific principles of nutrition when preparing food for patients and for healthy people
Cookery is a small part of dietetics
Dieticians working in hospitals are responsible for providing therapeutic diets to patients, especially for those for whom diet is a special part of the treatment. They plan meals for special individual patientsPrepare special recipes for the patients
Dieticians may also double as catering officers in the hospital
Dieticians in the processed industry will be required to work on new methods of preserving foods without much of its nutrient value
In star hotels, it is the work of dietician to work out suitable menus for different types of guests, especially visiting dignitaries
Dietitians also educate, counsel, administer medical nutrition therapy, teach, advise, and generally help by improving one's life through healthy eating habits
Very popular in preventing obesity – helping people lose weight

Personality Traits

Interest in the subject
An aptitude for science
A basic understanding of medicine and human nature/psychology
Ability to organize a team and coordinate work
Sense of responsibility
Immense patience
Excellent communication skills
The ability to understand all kinds of people and to interact with people different age groups

Salary

This field is extremely lucrative if one is really good at the work and is professional. What determines the success in this career is how effective your nutrition based diet plans are for your clients or patients and their satisfaction. To start with a dietician can earn anything up to Rs.20,000/- per month. After a good amount of experience at hand depending on the client satisfaction and the organisation one is working for, sky is the limit.

Study Route

Class XII: To pursue a career as a dietician you need to study physics, chemistry, home science and biology.

After Class XII: B.Sc in Home Science + Diploma in Dietary Sciences (plus 1-2 years' work experience) OR M.Sc in Home Science with

work experience

Post-graduate Diploma in Dietetics and Public Health Nutrition is preferred.

The dietician’s course is usually taken up for specialization after graduate study, though there are a few exceptions. Graduates in home science, medicine, science (with physics, chemistry and microbiology) and those with hotel management and catering may take up this postgraduate specialization. Subjects taught in the discipline of dietetics include physics, chemistry, nutrition and physiology.
Dietetics is taught as a post graduate diploma program in some institutes and universities. Dietetics is also taken up as a specialization at the master's level in home science at major universities in the country. Universities such those of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai offer nutrition or nutrition and health as subjects at the graduate level too.

General Eligibility Criteria:

For an M.Sc. in Home Science (Foods & Nutrition): B.Sc. in Home Science (10+2+3) from a recognized university with an aggregate of 55% marks, 55% marks in aggregate in biochemistry, foods & nutrition, food science in the honours course; and food science, biochemistry and nutrition and dietetics in the pass course.

The M.Sc. Home Science course includes biochemistry, biostatistics, food microbiology, human nutritional requirements, investigation into nutrition, physiology, principles of food science in the first year. In the final year human nutrition and dietetics, institutional management and food science are taught.

For a Postgraduate Diploma in Dietetics & Public Health Nutrition (DDPHN): B.Sc. in Home Science (10+2+3) from a recognized university with 50% marks in aggregate & 50% or more marks in food and nutrition, physiology and biochemistry. The subjects of study at the diploma training include administration, applied physiology, biochemistry, food microbiology, nutrition, public health nutrition and therapeutic nutrition. This is a one year course with a three month internship in a hospital.

Following are some of the reputed institutes in India:

SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai
Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai
All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health (under Calcutta University), Calcutta
Institute of Home Economics, Delhi
Sophia College, B. K. Somani Polytechnic, Mumbai
Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai.

To Stud/ Practice Overseas

USA

There are a few different academic routes to becoming a fully qualified registrable dietitian:

A professional bachelor degree in Dietetics which requires four years of studies; or
A bachelor of science degree and a postgraduate diploma in Dietetics, or
A bachelor of science degree and a master's degree in Dietetics

Besides academic education, registered dietitians must complete up to a year long dietetic internship or 900 hours supervised by an RD before they can sit for the registration examination. The dietetic internship requires the intern to complete several areas of competency including rotations in clinical, community, long-term care nutrition as well as food service, public health and a variety of other worksites.
Once the degree is earned, the internship completed, and registration examination passed, the dietitian is able to work in a variety of professional settings. Most states require additional licensure to work in most settings. To maintain, the RD credential, professionals must participate in and earn continuing education units 75 hours every 5 years.

Some of the Universities that offer Advance degree courses include: