The BDA is the professional association and trade union for dietitians

Media Hotline - new number

The BDA Press Office Media Hotline has now changed to 0800 048 1714. 

Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition: on-line

The British Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada are very proud to announce the first international collaboration for Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition (PEN). The BDA is working with the PEN Team to build the UK content.

PEN subscriptions are now available for purchase.

Developed by Dietitians of Canada with input from thought leaders in nutrition and dietetic practice, knowledge translation and technology, its powerful search tools and 'Knowledge Pathway' format are designed to deliver evidence-based guidance to nutrition practice questions as well as provide links to client and professional tools and resources easily and efficiently. Read more ...

The Role of Dietitians

Registered Dietitians (RDs) are the only qualified health professionals that assess, diagnose and treat diet and nutrition problems at an individual and wider public health level. Uniquely, dietitians use the most up to date public health and scientific research on food, health and disease, which they translate into practical guidance to enable people to make appropriate lifestyle and food choices.

Dietitians are the only nutrition professionals to be statutorily regulated, and governed by an ethical code, to ensure that they always work to the highest standard. Dietitians work in the NHS, private practice, industry, education, research, sport, media, public relations, publishing, NGOs and government. Their advice influences food and health policy across the spectrum from government, local communities and individuals.

The title dietitian can only be used by those appropriately trained professionals who have registered with the Health Professions Council and whose details are on the HPC web site. We have a leaflet that explains the roles of nutrition professionals further.

Finding a Dietitian

Most people will be able to see a Registered Dietitian within the NHS after being referred by an NHS GP, doctor, health visitor or other medical staff. You can also self-refer. Consultations with dietitians within the NHS are free.

Alternatively if you wish to see a Registered Dietitian who practises privately, you can search on-line for a dietitian near you at the Freelance Dietitians web site, which is run by the BDA's Freelance Dietitian Group.

The BDA has developed a series of Key Fact information sheets designed to raise the profile of dietitians and highlight their varied roles in different speciality areas.  The first three are on the topics of Malnutrition, Obesity and Diabetes.

Which? report has found that some advice given by high street nutritional therapists could seriously harm patients' health

With the New Year underway, the British Dietetic Association has experienced a significant increase in calls from the media asking them to debunk various food claims from many sources.

In addition, on Monday 16th Which? Magazine published a report "Nutritional therapists: gambling with your health?"outlining what they say are dangerous practices by some nutrition therapists working in the UK. Read more ...

BDA Malnutrition Campaign Hand-in-Hand with National Nutrition and Hydration Week 2012

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) is proud to be a supporting partner of the National Patient Safety Agency’s Nutrition and Hydration week (23-29th January 2012), titled ‘A taste of patient safety’.

Poor nutrition and hydration leads to poor health, prolonged hospital length of stay and increased costs to the NHS.

The conse-quences of poor nutrition and hydration are well documented and include a greater risk of infection, poor skin integrity and delayed wound healing, decreased muscle strength, depression and, sadly, premature death.

Nutrition and Hydration Week runs with the support of key partners, such as the BDA, to reinforce and focus energy, activity and engagement.

History of the BDA

All three volumes of the BDA History are now available.

Volume 3 is available in full print edition as well as on-line.

5 Worst Diets of the Year

The Christmas festivities have passed, the New Year’s Eve party is just a vague blur, and this year you really will get the body of your dreams!  But how?

January signals a UK-wide dieting frenzy.  However, with so many diet books and celebrity-endorsed fitness DVDs on the market, who’s cashing in and who’s worth checking out? The BDA receives hundreds of calls from the media every year on this subject and they come across a huge range of weird and whacky diets and diet claims.

Here are the top 5 dodgy celeb diets to avoid in 2012.

BDA Press Coverage

Western Mail 5th January Welsh health experts reject diet magnate’s plan for slim pupils to get extra marks The unorthodox suggestion was pitched in a book by DR Dukan who founded the Dukan diet as a way of reducing high rates of childhood obesity in France, and has attracted widespread condemnation. The plans would mean pupils could be allowed an extra “weight option” in their final exams of France’s A-Level equivalent,– under which they would earn extra points if they kept BMI of between 18-25. Jacqui Lowdon paediatric Dietitan of the BDA said: “It’s not a case of having a ‘healthy’ BMI of 18-25, you have to chart it and plot it on a graph so it’s not as straightforward. And what happens when children leave school?” She added that those with a healthy BMI don’t necessarily have a healthy diet as it’s dependant on other factors and that could set children up to fail. The Daily Telegraph 28th December Annual report highlights controversial health claims by celebrities Celebrities misleading claims over detox treatments and vitamin supplements have been highlighted in a new report by scientists. Earlier this year, Cowell admitted to taking intravenous cocktails of vitamins C, B12 and magnesium to make him look and feel young. Ursula Arens, a dietitian at the British Dietetic Association said Cowell's vitamin injections were unlikely to be providing much benefit and that, unless a person had a particular vitamin deficiency, food intake should provide all the vitamins they need. The Portsmouth News 20th December How to survive the season without piling on the pounds Most people indulge in a spot of over eating at Christmas but the BDA has warned that the average person will eat about 6,000 calories on Christmas Day alone and has some handy tips on how you can curb the cravings this year try make sure the only thing that’s stuffed is the turkey! The Sun, 14th December Thick and Thin Skinny Peaches Geldof has been slammed for raving about a dangerous fad diet – eating no solid food for a month at a time. The telly host has come under scrutiny recently for her extreme weight loss. Cath Collins of the BDA said:” Peaches joins a long line of celebs who are brain-dead when it comes to nutrition”.

On 1st November 2011, the British Dietetic Association (BDA) launched a brand new national campaign called Mind the Hunger Gap.

The first phase of the campaign will involve calling on all dietitians in the UK to highlight the national disgrace that conservatively estimated involves around 1,000,000 (one million) older people in the UK eating less than one square meal a day.  This figure does not include those older people in a hospital or care setting, it is those older people living in our community or, as they have become, the ‘invisible’ population.

Malnutrition does not discriminate and it impacts on people regardless of age, gender or race. While the World Health Organization cites malnutrition as the greatest single threat to the world’s public health, it is still widely believed that malnutrition is restricted to the third world population.  Quite simply, it is not.

Mind the Hunger Gap is an online-based campaign and dietitians will be directed to the campaign website (www.mindthehungergap.com) to download various materials and campaign tools to highlight the issue locally, while the BDA will raise the issue on a national level.

While primarily a dietitian-led campaign, the Mind the Hunger Gap website will also have various tools that members of the public can use to add their support.

Read the full Mind the Hunger Gap launch press release.