Protecting patients through professional regulation: Audit of registration of nutritional therapy practitioners via a grandparenting process

Exploring the current working profiles of nutritional therapists to inform curriculum and professional development

“…In particular the establishment of numbers training since the introduction of the first courses and exploring barriers to practice which may be linked to the quality of these early courses. The basic demographics have been compared with two other studies of the profession [29,51]; both studies reported age and gender data that is in accord with this survey.…”

Exploring nutritional therapy practitioner perspectives on working with people affected by cancer

“…NT is a bioscience-based practice (Granger and Watkins, 2014) but also draws on a body of evidence from a number of disciplines, including anthropology, epidemiology, public health, clinical medicine, and in vivo and in vitro nutrition science. NT practitioners, generally referred to as nutritional therapists, are trained to work with healthy individuals and those with health problems to provide personalised nutritional counselling (Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council, 2017).…”

“…The basis of NT is that each individual has unique nutritional requirements (Koithan and Devika, 2010) determined by a number of factors; including genetics (Ziegler et al, 2002), lifestyle, environmental exposures and life events; and that nutritional intake and other health choices (such as physical activity) can impact on the expression of the individual's inherited constitution (Mathers, 2008, Supic et al, 2013. The approach of NT practitioners to this interaction of genetics and potentially modifiable risks is therefore to assess the client and counsel on appropriate levels and sources of nutrients, providing a personalised nutritional plan (Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council, 2017, Skills for Health, 2010c, Granger and Watkins, 2014. Genetic information may also be considered in a personalised nutrition plan by some NT practitioners (Richardson andMason, 2011, Benbow et al, 2017) and may incorporate analysis of specific genes associated with nutritional function, such as those governing fat metabolism (Hesketh, 2013) or folate metabolism (Ragasudha et al, 2012, Huang et al, 2012, Wernimont et al, 2012, Powers, 2005.…”

“…There is also voluntary practitioner registration with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) and there are currently about 800 NT practitioners on the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) Accredited Register held by the CNHC (CNHC personal communication). Registration requires demonstration of working at the NOS, either by qualification from an NTEC accredited course, or by completion of an Accreditation of Prior Learning portfolio (Granger andWatkins, 2014, Complementary &Natural Healthcare Council, 2017). A number of professional associations have nutritional therapists amongst their membership, with the British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BANT) representing practitioners who demonstrate working at the level of the NOS, are insured and registered with the CNHC (BANT, 2014).…”

“…In addition to NT practitioners and dietitians, a third group of nutrition professionals are referred to as nutritionists, although this term may be used by a wide range of practitioners with variable levels and types of training (Granger and Watkins, 2014). Graduates with a nutrition degree may apply to be registered with the Association for Nutrition (AfN) in the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN) (Association for Nutrition, 2017).…”