What Does a Certified Nutrition Specialist Do?

The job of a certified nutrition specialist usually involves reviewing dietary habits, helping with menu planning, and educating others on how to make healthy choices. A person with this title may provide nutritional advice and planning for organizations as well as individuals and families, and can work as an employee or as an independent consultant. Additionally, a significant part of a certified nutrition specialist's job could include educating others in making good nutritional choices.

A certified nutrition specialist typically has the job of evaluating a client or organization's nutritional habits or programs. For individual clients and families, for example, he may review food consumption habits and point out any deficiencies he finds, make recommendations for improvement, or confirm that choices meet current nutritional standards. Usually, a nutrition specialist performs his reviews based on standards provided by a government health and nutrition authority that has carefully researched and set standards for nutritional intake.

In most cases, a certified nutrition specialist can handle nutritional evaluations across the board, such as for a general population of people within an organization or group. For example, he may review a program's menu plan based on the needs of its general population. He can also, however, tailor his review to the needs of a specific category of people. For instance, he might base his reviews on the needs of children, young adults, elderly people, pregnant women, or even those with special medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Often, a certified nutrition specialist also works to create new meal plans. For instance, this person may create meal plans that are nutritionally sound for an individual or an entire family. He might also create nutritionally sound meal plans for organizations such as schools, companies, hospitals, or nursing homes. When a certified nutrition specialist works with meal planning, he may also help his clients learn how to make good choices. For example, he might help a person who wants to lose weight learn how to choose snacks and treats that taste good but are healthy.

An individual with the title of certified nutrition specialist can work for an employer or as an independent consultant. For example, he could work for a nutrition or medical company, or secure employment with an organization that needs a nutritionist for its employees, students, members, patients, or residents. He may also take on private clients and referrals from medical professionals. For instance, if a person needs a special diet leading up to a surgery or because of a medical condition, a doctor might refer him to a certified nutritionist.