Diet watch

Rupali Dutta, chief, clinical nutrition, Fortis, New Delhi, started working as a clinical nutritionist in 1987 and she has, over the years, seen a marked change in the way people and doctors look at nutritionists. “At one time doctors used to do everything and we had to follow whatever they recommended. But now, with medico-legal issues involved, the scenario has changed. Nutritionists are specialists today,” she says.

Nutritionists make a very balanced combination — they are people with expertise in clinical and nutritional matters and assess the dietary needs of patients. With changing lifestyles and food habits the importance and need of a nutritionist has increased manifold. A nutritionist has to take inputs from the patient and check his/her medical records and genetic patterns and then suggest modifications in his/her diet if required. The nutritionist has to check whether the modifications made by him/her are within the biochemical parameters or not. And they have to check these parameters according to the patient’s history. Some nutritionists specialise in particular fields such as obesity, paediatrics or diabetes.

A nutritionist is either attached to a hospital or with a leading doctor. Some are even getting jobs with gyms and healthcare centres. Today, there’s a big demand for nutritionists in the processed food industry. They are required to work for the development and improvement of food products and production methods, conduct research on food items to ensure their quality and also to study their effects on humans. Residential schools often hire nutritionists to take charge of catering. “A lot of food packaging is happening; ready-to-eat food stuff is available. Companies want the packaged food to be nutritionally adequate, and to do that they need nutritionists. In research a lot of genetically modified vegetables are coming in and nutritionists have to check their food value,” says Dutta.

Teaching is another option. Work is also available in health and recreation clubs, nursing care facilities, catering departments of star hotels, research labs of food manufacturers, etc.

Actual work experience counts. “You have to understand that you are dealing with people who come with a lot of baggage when it comes to food habits. You have to work out a solution; you have to make them understand the modifications you are suggesting. To do this you will need (to have) good communication skills, which people in the science field, generally, do not focus on,” says Dutta. Another challenge for a nutritionist in the Indian scenario is that “here you deal with the whole family. Because food is a way of life for most people, to change it would be like changing people’s lifestyles,” she adds.


Author: Syed Amir Ali Hashmi

Date: 25th March, 2010

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