Question

Sandy is a personal trainer who works at your local gym. She has a client who has high blood pressure. You overhear Sandy giving her client nutrition advice: "Eat eight or more servings of fruit and vegetables and cut back on adding salt to your food. That should help you lower your blood pressure without having to take medications." Is Sandy operating within her authority by giving nutrition advice to her client? Why or why not?
A. Yes, Sandy is educating her client on foods that can be included in a normal healthy diet.
B. No, Sandy is using medical nutrition therapy and she is not a registered dietitian.
C. Yes, Sandy is giving advice on the function of nutrients in the body and the effects of excessive nutrients in the body.
D. No, Sandy is a personal trainer, so she cannot give anyone nutrition education because it is out of her scope of practice.

Answer 1

Answer:

B. No, Sandy is using medical nutrition therapy and she is not a registered dietitian.

Explanation:

Nutritional Therapy is central to our ability to deal with general illness, infection, surgery, and trauma in particular. The goal of Nutrition Therapy is to maintain or improve nutrition status by preventing and treating malnutrition, maintaining body tissue and protein volume in plasma, and preventing macro and micronutrient deficiency. The professional with the authority to inform a client about which nutritional therapy would be appropriate for him / her is the registered dietitian. Sandy is a personal trainer, so she shouldn't be advising anyone about nutritional therapy.