Factors Affecting Dieticians in the Provision of Advice Relating to Personalized Nutrition (Nutritional Genomics).

A great amount of research has focused on nutritional genomics in order to personalize dietary interventions based upon genetic premises. The aim of nutritional genomics research is to use this information as a preventive tool in primary care, through personalized dietary advice to populations or to individuals. Increasing the understanding of genetic traits on the part of dieticians and other healthcare professionals can complement the data that is required to create personalized recommendations for dietary intervention. A literature review was conducted by the author using PubMed journals from 2000 to the present day with regard to nutritional genomics studies in order to address the factors affecting dieticians in the provision of advice related to personalized nutrition. Inclusion criteria included research limited to human studies, in the English language and published after 2000. This review concludes that there is a huge demand for an increase in the knowledge and skills of dieticians in order to transform the genetic results and nutrigenomics message into common language as part of their clinical practice. This could be achieved by participation in specific training courses on diet and gene interaction, and by attending conferences and seminars to exchange their perspectives on nutritional genomics. In addition, there is a need to establish a healthcare system that supports and rewards these approaches and promotes their application.

¿Es suficiente el recurso humano nutricionista en el sistema hospitalario público en Chile?: Una deuda pendiente / Adequacy of nutritionist (dietician) resources in Chilean public hospitals

Background: Human resource deficit is an important management problem in Chilean public hospitals. Aim: To analyze the adequacy of Nutritionist (Dietician) resources in public hospitals. Material and Methods: A questionnaire about Nutritionist resources was sent to head Nutritionists of all public Chilean hospitals, asking about the number of Nutritionists per service, number of hospital beds and number of daily rations served. Results were analyzed based on the Technical Guideline about Nutritional and Feeding Services of public hospitals issued by the Chilean Ministry of Health in 2005. Results: According to the guideline, there should be 1,396 nutritionists working in public hospitals and the results of the survey showed that there were only 603 professionals with a 57% deficit. Conclusions: There is a huge gap between the amount of Nutritionists (Dieticians) required and those effectively working in public hospitals.

Dieticians' intentions to recommend functional foods: The mediating role of consumption frequency of functional foods

This study explored the conceptual framework of dieticians' intentions to recommend functional food and the mediating role of consumption frequency. A web-based survey was designed using a self-administered questionnaire. A sample of Korean dieticians (N=233) responded to the questionnaire that included response efficacy, risk perception, consumption frequency, and recommendation intention for functional foods. A structural equation model was constructed to analyze the data. We found that response efficacy was positively related to frequency of consumption of functional foods and to recommendation intention. Consumption frequency also positively influenced recommendation intention. Risk perception had no direct influence on recommendation intention; however, the relationship was mediated completely by consumption frequency. Dieticians' consumption frequency and response efficacy were the crucial factors in recommending functional foods. Dieticians may perceive risks arising from the use of functional foods in general, but the perceived risks do not affect ratings describing dieticians' intentions to recommend them. The results also indicated that when dieticians more frequently consume functional foods, the expression of an intention to recommend functional foods may be controlled by the salience of past behaviors rather than by attitudes.

Job Performance Frequency and the Training Needs of Dieticians in Elderly Healthcare Facilities

The purpose of this study was to identify job frequency and the training needs of dieticians in elderly health care facilities. This study consisted of dieticians working in elderly health care facilities with a capacity of over 50 elderly. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 190 dieticians through the mail and 106 dieticians (55.8%) participated in this study. The results of the survey showed that dieticians in elderly health care facilities frequently performed the following job: work management, safety and sanitation management, purchase management, human resource management, finance management, nutrition management, and marketing management. The job frequency in safety and sanitation management (p<0.05) and nutrition management (p<0.01) areas were significantly different by the number of dieticians. Safety and sanitation management and menu management were considered job areas that needed further training and education. Dieticians in elderly health care facilities responded that the following jobs should require not only training but are also frequently performed: safety and sanitation management, menu management, work management, and human resource management. Thus, based on the results of this study, continuous training programs in these fields should be offered to satisfy the needs of dieticians.

The effect of diet education provided by physicians and dieticians on serum lipid profiles during more than 1 year

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to compare the long term effect of the cholesterol lowering diet education provided by physicians with the education provided by dieticians on serum lipid profiles of hypercholesterolemic patients. METHODS: Among 248 ambulatory patients who had mean baseline serum total cholesterol (TC) level > or = 200mg/dL and received cholesterol lowering diet education from physicians or dieticians, 41 patients who checked serum lipid profiles three times during the mean of 403 days after education were included as subjects. The differences in means of all serum lipid profiles associated with education methods after controlling for follow up duration, differences in means of all serum lipid profiles associated with follow up duration after controlling for education methods, any interaction between education methods and follow up duration on serum lipid profiles were analysed by using repeated measures of analysis of variance. The difference between the baseline lipid levels and the third lipid levels after education were analyzed by using Wilcoxon signed ranks tests in each group. Correlations between baseline serum lipid profiles and the last changes in serum lipid profiles were analyzed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in means of all serum lipid profiles associated with education methods or follow up duration except LDL cholesterol (LDL C). The first LDL C level after education was significantly lower in the group educated by physicians compared with the baseline LDL C, but there was no such change in the group educated by dieticians. There were no interactions between education methods and follow up duration on all serum lipid profiles. The last change of total cholesterol in both groups and LDL C only in the group educated by dieticians were significant. Correlation coefficients between baseline triglyceride (TG) and change in TG, baseline LDL C and change in LDL C, baseline total cholesterol (TC) and change in TC in patients with TC > or = 240mg/dL were 0.500 (P=0.002), 0.597 (P<0.001), and 0.578 (P=0.001), respectively. CONCLUSION: The changes of serum lipid profile during more than 1 year after education were not significantly different according to diet education methods, but total cholesterol level was significantly decreased in both groups.