Registered Dietitian Nutritionists

Right now, I am thankful that I am not limited by who I need to see for nutrition advice. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) was lobbying very heavy in this state for exclusive rights to be the only organization legally allowed to present nutrition and dietary information. Fortunately, that effort has been stopped.

The state medical board at the request of many doctors has come down against this. The politics were rather ugly for a few weeks. The legislators were listening and prevented the two bills from making progress out of committees. Therefore, for another year, no action will be taken.

Our support group has been watching the actions of certain state legislators to see if we should support candidates in certain districts to defeat a few candidates that supported this action for AND.

Now that a full year has passed since the name change to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), we are beginning to see what they are promoting. Since March is National Nutrition Month, AND is heavily promoting their Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs). Even we have seen advertisements calling for their support and recognition. We could not determine who paid for the ad that ran opposite the AND ad, but it did make people more aware of their intent and how they want to criminalize people not in their organization.

The AND spokesperson Toby Smithson has been overly expressive about the accomplishments of the RDNs and how they are now recognized by Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services.

“Numerous scientific studies over many years, including studies mandated by Congress, have shown that medical nutrition therapy provided by a registered dietitian nutritionist can lower health costs, decrease hospital stays and improve people’s health. Besides being the designated providers under federal law of medical nutrition therapy for Medicare beneficiaries, registered dietitian nutritionists are also the preferred providers of nutrition care and services in many private-sector insurance plans.”

If this is true, why has the obesity epidemic continued to increase in numbers. Could it be that the whole grains promotion is adding to the obesity numbers? They certainly are not causing a decrease. The numbers of people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are also increasing and the RDNs have been increasing the whole grain promotion to people with diabetes.

The RDNs are not promoting low carbohydrate/high fat diets or the Paleo Diet. Instead, they are promoting a high carbohydrate/low fat diet supported by Big Food and the processed food industry. By doing this, they are violating their own motto of being the only safe source of nutrition information.