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Celebrity diets, media and food supplements

Here at Nutriffic, we are often asked about claims made in newspaper columns and other media, and mostly our time is spent communicating the reality. We are also often asked by the media to comment on news topics and do so with our feet firmly in fact

Most people are familiar with "celebrity nutritionist", and whilst there is no doubt these individuals are successful in helping people and have a good knowledge of nutrition, some of these individuals background may not be in conventional nutrition. Many of these authors/celebrities/practitioners obtain qualifications from institutions of complementary therapy or may not have recognized qualifications in nutrition at all. As a result, some of the information they provide may not be evidence based and may differ from conventional established science. This needs to be born in mind when assessing the credibility of their claims. Also remember that the media (and those working within it) often uses sensationalism, over exaggeration and inappropriate citation of research to attract viewers or readers.

Dietary Supplements

Here at Nutriffic we base our advice on food and diet rather than supplements. As such we are not agents for food supplement companies, nor are we affiliated with any company or vendor.

It is very tempting for a nutritionist to use their clinic/book/TV programme/column/website as a means of selling nutritional and herbal supplements as part of their services to the client. This is remarkably easy to do as any nutritionist can quickly and perceivably portray clients as having inadequacies in specific nutrients as a cause of their health inadequacies. The nutritionist can then, supposedly suggest a tailor made supplement formula or selection for the client to take. For the client this appears great because they can take the pills/remedies and be fine without having to change their lifestyle or diet too much. For the practitioner, it’s a quick an easy solution to use and they take a tidy slice of the supplement cost for their trouble.

Nutritionists who operate in this way also tend to be extremely cunning businessmen and women. Often they highlight obscure or individual pieces of research to identify an active ingredient that could help a named condition or help improve a body function and use it to sell the supplement of that ingredient.

As a result, you should be wary of nutritionists who talk about the nutrition related to a condition or body function, which is an indirect way of identifying a potential product they can sell you.