5/23/25: Misinformation Superspreaders; Health Coaches & MAHA; The Cost of Defunding Science; 1.0 FREE CPEU; Podcast Picks from Science Vs.
Nutrition News You Can Use
🤪Misinformation “Superspreaders”
Social media “super-spreaders” push harmful diet fads to millions, new report warns
While this article is from the UK, we definitely see this in the US, i.e. individuals with little/no nutrition education, credentials or experience promoting restrictive or extreme diets, selling supplements, detoxes or cleanses.
According to the article, these folks generally fall into 3 categories:
“…the “Doc,” who fabricates or exaggerates medical expertise; the “Rebel,” who fuels anti-establishment sentiment; and the “Hustler,” who packages and markets lifestyle changes for sale…”
What can be done? This article has a few suggestions:
1. “…Include practical nutrition and digital literacy in school curricula, teaching students how to cook healthy meals on a budget, and recognize misinformation online.
2. Meet people online: Support UK-based nutrition professionals in building engaging social media presences that counteract misleading content.
3. Raise professional standards: Enforce stricter guidelines for the use of medical titles online and penalize those who misuse them for commercial gain.”
🪪❓Health Coaching: Credentials?
Health Coaching as a Developing Profession - Katie Suleta, DHSc, MPH
“…health coaches are unregulated - anyone can identify as a health coach.
The potential problems around this should be obvious: people lacking real knowledge and training in health can provide guidance and advice under the presumed expertise that a title like “health coach” implies…”
From one of our followers (posted February 2024):
"As a Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), please for the love of all that is holy do NOT allow "health coaches" or "wellness coaches" to take over any RDN role! Okay, maybe I should say do NOT allow unless they have (1) very specific training, and (2) possibly another credential. Why? Sadly, many of the board-approved coaching programs teach and promote misinformation. (I know, I know, there are RDNs who are somehow not-evidence-based too, but as far as I can tell it is a much smaller percentage of the profession.) There is no specific educational background required, so many coaches (like me) have no background or degree in nutrition, chemistry, biology, etc. and most of them (unlike me) don't know how to evaluate published studies beyond the People-Magazine level of presentation. The Board exam for coaches is largely focused on coaching skills within the coaching scope of practice--as it should be. There are very few questions concerning general health and nutrition, all of which are based on very basic guidelines (like MyPlate). This is because education is not the heart of coaching--coaches don't teach, they help clients make client-centered, client-directed lifestyle changes. Coaches without other credentials should not be handing out anything more than very basic dietary advice (e.g. eat more vegetables, watch added sugar intake). Creating dietary plans for specific illnesses is NOT within the scope of practice for a coach, yet I've seen coaches insist the ONLY health diet for [insert-a-condition-here] is paleo, or sell Plexus (an MLM) to their clients as it will absolutely "help" with [insert-a-condition-here]. I'd add that the non-board-certified coaches are even worse than the board-certified ones. My dudes, as a not-RDN, please DO NOT let coaches take over nutrition. Sure, rely on the sane among us to help share accurate information, but don't let us into your scope of practice. It's a terrible idea."
🚸DYK this?
Thanks to Alexandra Turnbull, RDN, LD for this LinkedIn post. (Read her whole post HERE)
“Did you know dietitians can now officially fill out special diet documentation for Child Nutrition programs? 🎉 (As of this school year)….This collaboration between dietitians, healthcare providers, school staff, and caregivers is essential to ensuring kids get the nutrition they need to thrive.
This change means:
- Personalized nutrition that’s tailored to each child’s health needs.
- Collaboration among all parts of the child’s care team.
- Increased recognition of RDs in child nutrition programs…”
🆓 #Sponsored FREE 1.0 CPEU
from Pork & Partners: "Communicating with Cultural Competence"
Heart disease impacts millions of Americans each year – with rates highest among Black and Hispanic populations. Expand your knowledge of best practices in counseling patients and clients to support heart health with cultural competency.
Continuing Education for Nutrition Professionals (on demand)
📰Substack Newsletter Recommendation
(“The Human Cost of Defunding Science”) - Elisabeth Marnik, PhD
“…According to a recent report by the U.S. Senate HELP Committee Minority Staff, the current administration has already terminated $13.5 billion in health funding and at least 1,660 grants have been canceled. The amount of money NIH has committed to research between January and March is down by $2.7 billion compared to the same period last year, which is a 35% drop. Cancer research alone has seen a 31% reduction in funding since January…”.
🎙️Podcast Picks:
Two (2) from Science Vs
A good look at how (bad) thing are in the U.S. right now when it comes to science.
So much talk about anti-inflammatory foods and a lot of people shilling supplements. But what’s the bottom line when it comes to what causes inflammation and what types of meals may actually be anti-inflammatory.