How is Nutritional Therapy regulated?
Nutritional Therapy is currently not a regulated profession in the UK, meaning the title ‘Nutritionist’ or ‘Nutritional Therapist’ can be used by anyone (eg. fully qualified practitioners, those who have taken a short course and instagram bloggers).
Although the law does not protect the titles 'nutritional therapist' and 'registered nutritional therapist', there are certain industry professional bodies and registers that use specific titles to portray registration and a high level of training. One such regulatory body is the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), which was set up with government support to protect the public. Nutritional Therapists must meet the CNHC’s standards and maintain their professional skills through an ongoing programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in order to display the CNHC quality mark.
British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) is a professional body for Nutritional Therapists. Its primary function is to assist its members in attaining the highest standards of integrity, knowledge, competence and professional practice, in order to protect the client’s interests, nutritional therapy and the nutritional therapist.
Before consulting a nutritional therapist you should ensure that they have full membership with a professional association such as BANT, ANP, or NNA and are registered with a regulatory body such as CNHC or GNC. This will ensure that your nutritional therapist is fully insured, trained, and qualified in clinical practice to meet national standards and to work in a one-to-one setting with clients.