Nutrition Experts - Monitoring Food for a Career

With ever-changing food habits being practiced, different life-styles being led and random and varied diets being followed by people in today’s scenario, the need for a Nutritionist or a nutrition expert has increased manifold.

The job of Nutritionists basically revolves around the extensive study of food. They monitor food right from its origin, through all the different processing stages and to the consumption stage. They are responsible for carrying out the quantitative and qualitative analysis of food. As soon as the crops are harvested, the monitoring process begins and it goes on till the food is consumed by a person.

Nutritionists have expertise in the fields of nutritional matters, clinical matters and especially the assessment of the dietary needs of the clients. They need to keep a continuous and regular check on their clients. The medical records of the client have to be checked. Also, monitoring of the client’s genetic patterns requires to be done. Inputs, feedbacks and suggestion from the client are also taken. All these factors are taken into consideration to formulate the diet plan of a client. Modifications in the plan, if and when required, are also made on the basis of this series of information.

The biological parameters always have to be kept in mind by a Nutritionist. A diet plan or modifications in it have to be made as per these parameters. These parameters can be monitored by thoroughly studying the medical history of the client in question.

The field of Nutrition has sub-fields too and some Nutritionists specialize in these sub-fields. These sub- categories could be diabetes, obesity, pediatrics, cholesterol- related conditions, etc. a Nutritionist has the option of either working as an associate of a leading doctor or as being employed by a hospital. They can combine the two options too.

The pay scale of a beginner in this field can be anything between 10,000 INR to 15,000 INR per month. But this is in case one has only has a diploma or a graduate degree. If one has a Master’s degree, they can earn between 2,50,000 INR and 3,50,000 on a yearly basis. Also, the salaries keep increasing as one goes higher up in the field. Now-a-days Nutritionists are also being employed by gyms, fitness trainers and the likes. Some of them also work as personal advisors to celebrities and other high- profile people.

To be able to be become a Nutritionist, one needs to plan very early. First of all, one should take up a course in Home Science at the class 10th level. The same should be followed in class 12th. Also, one should take up Science at the class 12th level. After that, one should go for graduate degree courses in Home Science. It could be a B.Sc. in Home Science or a B.A. in Home Science. A Masters in Home Science should follow. At the M.Sc. level, one should opt for a specialization in Food Science or Nutrition or both. Courses in BHSC or MHSC are also offered by some agricultural universities. Some institutes that offer courses in Nutrition are the University of Delhi, the Institute of Home Economics, New Delhi, the Jadavpur University, Kolkata, the University of Madras, the University of Mumbai and the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara.