Food & drink

Nutritionist

Nutritionists share scientific food knowledge and advice about the effects of diet and nutrition on health and wellbeing.

Annual Salary

£24,907 to £37,890

Working hours

37 to 39 a week

You could work: between 8am and 6pm;

3.8%
Future employment

There will be 3.8% more Nutritionist jobs in 2027.
In your local area

What's it all about?

Day-to-day tasks

Your duties will vary depending where you work. Generally, you might:

  • undertake nutrition research projects
  • recruit volunteers to take part in trials
  • process and analyse biological samples
  • run workshops and presentations
  • provide evidence-based scientific advice on healthy eating
  • run healthy eating campaigns aimed at particular groups
  • work under the supervision of doctors, dieticians and nurses with patients in hospital

Working environment

You could work in an NHS or private hospital, in the community, at a GP practice, at a health centre or in a laboratory.

You can get into this job through:

  • a university course
University

You'll usually need a degree or postgraduate qualification approved by the Association for Nutrition.

Approved courses include:

  • food and nutrition
  • biochemistry
  • physiology
  • public health
  • health promotion

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 2 or 3 A levels, or equivalent, including biology or chemistry
  • a degree in a relevant subject for postgraduate study
For more information
Volunteering and work experience

For healthcare roles, you'll find it helpful to get some paid or voluntary experience in the NHS before you apply for a course.

Contact the voluntary services co-ordinator at your local NHS trust for further advice.

You could also consider work experience in sectors like;food safety; animal welfare; food poverty charities; sport and fitness; food manufacturing; university research laboratories

You can also find volunteering opportunities through The National Council for Voluntary Organisations and Do IT.

Requirements and restrictions

You'll need to:

More information

Career tips

You could take a short course to help you decide whether this is the right career for you. You can find details from the Association for Nutrition and FutureLearn.

Professional and industry bodies

You can register with the Association for Nutrition to join the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists for professional recognition.

Further information

You can find out more about careers in nutrition from the Association for Nutrition and Health Careers.

With experience, further training or a postgraduate qualification you could specialise in areas like:sports and exercise nutrition; public health; food science; animal nutrition

You could move into supervisory, people or project management posts or policy development.

There are opportunities to become self-employed or work in overseas development.

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

  • sensitivity and understanding
  • knowledge of biology
  • knowledge of training and educating
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • the ability to work well with others
  • the ability to work on your own
  • thinking and reasoning skills
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
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