What is a Registered Dietitian?

Background

Registered dietitians are health professionals trained in physiology, metabolism, biochemistry, nutrition and food. Registered dietitians focus on the effects of diet on health promotion and disease prevention/treatment. While many health professionals receive some basic training in nutrition, registered dietitians are uniquely qualified to provide individualized counseling in nutrition. In turn, this individualized counseling helps people make changes in dietary intake that will ultimately improve their health and well-being.

Registered dietitians must go through significant training overseen by the Commission on Dietetic Registration, the official credentialing agency for the American Dietetic Association (ADA), which is the professional organization representing dietitians in the United States. Training requires a minimum of a bachelor's degree, granted by a U.S. accredited college or university, and an accredited pre-professional experience/internship. During this internship period, individuals work in a variety of settings under the supervision of experienced registered dietitians to gain competency and to become eligible to sit for a credentialing exam for registration. To maintain registration status, registered dietitians must earn continuing education credits. This continual learning process ensures dietitians stay on top of the constantly growing body of nutrition research and knowledge. Because the field of nutrition is so vast, most registered dietitians use their continual learning process to specialize in a certain practice area. In addition, many registered dietitians continue with college or university affiliated education, as more than half of all registered dietitians in the United States have master's degrees.

What do registered dietitians do at RLI?

Rippe Lifestyle Institute employs registered dietitians as part of the research team to handle all aspects of research related to food and nutrient intake and analysis. Registered dietitians at RLI collect and analyze nutrition and food data; design menus, meal plans and recipes; and counsel subjects on a wide variety of topics related to nutrition and health. They also become involved in developing study protocols and coordinating nutrition-related studies. Most importantly, registered dietitians at RLI help research subjects meet the unique nutritional goals of each study as specified by the research design and protocol.