NUTR 2030 1 14 15 Credible Sources of Nutrition Info No one is policing magazines the Internet or TV for truthfulness about publication of nutritional information It is up to you to decipher fact from fiction There are ways to alert the government of a concern report product advertising complaints to the FTC report product concerns food drugs dietary supplements to the FDA NIH report serious events related to medical products to the FDA All credited healthcare professionals are adequately trained in nutrition and always convey accurate information FALSE National Academy of Sciences suggests minimum 25 hours of nutrition education to medical students 25 of medical schools require students to take a dedicated nutrition course 2008 average nutrition contact hours 19 6 2008 A registered dietician a nutritionist are NOT the same anyone can call themselves a nutritionist RDs or RDNs have extensive accredited training in nutrition and must pass a credentialing exam Public protection from harm is the key Reputable Nutrition Credentials Registered Dietitian RD Registered Dietitian Nutritionist RDN Dietetic Technician Registered DTR Nutrition Dietetic Technician Registered NDTR Who is an RD RDN A food and nutrition expert who holds a bachelors degree from a regionally accredited university completes accreditation council for education completes an ACEND accredited supervised practice internship program passes a national examination administered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration CDR completes continuing professional education required to maintain registration Licensure laws 46 states including SC To ensure that only qualified trained professional provide nutrition services or advice to individuals requiring or seeking nutrition care or information Licensure protect title scope of practice Certification protect title only Non licensed certified practitioners may be subject to prosecution In order to determine what information you should believe it is important to assess the credibility of the source Journals such as JAMA JOSPT and Circulation are scientific and based on experiments and studies and are completely credible Consumer magazines such as Reader s Digest and Prevention Magazine are credible as well but you have to be careful A lot of their information is like the watered down version of what comes from scientific journals When it comes to other sources government agencies such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention CDC and the publication Dietary Guidelines for Americans published by the FDA are credible whereas online forums such as WebMD and Wikipedia are not always 100 true Separating Fact from Fiction Credibility credentials of author publication CARS source of information o Journal blog magazine proclaimed Reviewed by others Peer review Accuracy info current factual comprehensive Training of the author publication Academic training or self Published recently last 5 years or 10 years ago Based on a few reports or many reports Observation weak or experimentation strong o Observation correlation does not prove causation o Experiment tests cause effect relationships Are results statistical or clinically significant Reasonable fairness balance consistency who do the results apply to o Age gender ethnicity how many subjects were used o Small or large number presence of bias which and how many supporters what funding agencies or conflicts of interest is someone trying to make a profit Support supporting documentation who else agrees with the results where did the information come from
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