Advanced Certificate in Nutritional Science

Take Steps to Become a Nutrition Expert 

Our nutrition courses are designed by specialists in the field to ensure our students develop knowledge of the links between diet and degenerative diseases, understand how nourishment (or lack of it) affects mental and physical performance, foetal development, and much more.    

Begin your journey working in the food industry, food provision, health care, education, consulting or public relations.

What really happens to the food you eat?

Study Nutritional Science with us and you will learn about how the body works to break down the foods you eat by looking at extensive biochemical processes such as metabolism.

Graduate Employment Possibilities

The food that people eat, and how it is eaten, may be influenced by a wide range of vocations, for example:

• Health food shop sales staff

• Food Supplement Suppliers (both factories that produce supplements and people who wholesale, or directly distribute supplements)

• Primary producers

• Food Retailers

• Food Service Industries (Restaurant managers, cooks, etc)

• Fitness professionals

• Health & Wellbeing Professionals (eg. Doctors, Naturopaths, Massage therapists, Counsellors etc)

• Nutritional Counsellors

• Dieticians

• Nutrition Scientists

The nutrition and food industries are changing all the time. Opportunities that exist when you commence study may be different to those when you graduate. The list above will provide an insight into where your career might take you; but in reality, the future holds opportunities that none of us have even dreamt of as yet.

Modules

Note that each module in the Advanced Certificate in Nutritional Science is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.

WORKING AS A NUTRITIONAL COUNSELLOR OR CONSULTANT

What we eat has a huge impact on our health, and nutritional counsellors help advise and guide people to eat a balanced diet to maintain good health. If you are interested in food, nutrition and health, and enjoy communicating with people, this may be the career path for you.

Nutritional counsellors or nutritionists may educate others on health and the establishment of a well-balanced diet. Nutritional counselling and advice may help others identify their problems with food, and the physical consequences of not eating well.

Education about the nutritional values of food can be of particular benefit to a person with physical problems, and can complement the medical treatment that person is receiving from a medical practitioner.

Nutritional counsellors or nutritionists may work in conjunction with other professionals.

A nutritional counsellor’s role may include:

• understanding nutritional science – the role and benefits of particular vitamins and minerals

• interpreting nutrition science – explain what a client needs to take to address a nutritional issue

• assessing people's nutritional needs

• advising on nutrition and diet for general good health and well being or for special needs such as sport

• implementing nutrition services and programs

• teaching others about better health and well being.

Opportunities
Employment in the field of Nutrition is varied. You may work for yourself and counsel clients how to eat more healthily to have more personal wellbeing. You can work with clients or you can work as a nutritional journalist. These are just a couple of the many avenues that you can explore. Employment in this field can be part time, full time, casual or permanent.

Depending on where you are living, career opportunities can be quite different – of course, a larger city provides more opportunities in general. A background in Nutrition can be utilized in many different industries at a variety of levels.

Remuneration and advancement opportunities depend on where and how you are practicing in this field. If you are counselling in nutrition, the price for one half hour session may vary from not much more than the minimum wage to over four times that rate. This may depend greatly on whether you are working in your own practice and location, and your specialities.

Extra study in a specialised area will make your skills more competitive. After some time in the business, many nutritionists decide to specialise in fields such as weight loss, fertility, childhood – especially ADD and Autism, sports such as performance and weight lifting. Or you can simply become a specialist vegan nutrition counsellor, making sure that those people not eating meat, fish, or other animal products get the right amount of nourishment and vitamins. If you are working on your own, advancement will depend on you and what you want to add to your skills. If working for others, it will depend on what industry they are in and what they find beneficial.

Risks and challenges
The stress rating for a nutritional counsellor will again depend on the way one is practicing. Working for yourself can be much calmer than working for others, but having to pay the bills and finding clients on your own may be stressful. Some jobs put heavier demands on people than others. Some are very stressful; others very laid back. Working for others may be less stressful as there is less responsibility, but you may also feel the stress of having to work times that you cannot control. Mostly, the field of Nutrition is very rewarding and gives you much pleasure as you help others to better health.

Another risk worth considering is the possibility of providing advice which is either incorrect, has an adverse response for the client, or is perceived by the client to be incorrect. It is important to ensure you have appropriate insurance to cover you for situations like this.

How to become a Nutritional Counsellor
The nutrition industry is not government regulated in many countries, however high level jobs in big organisations (eg. Hospital Dietician) are usually filled by university trained nutritional scientists. . However, for your client’s (and your own) best interests, it is advisable that you undergo appropriate training. There are many excellent vocational training courses that deliver information from people working in the industry. There are also Bachelor degree and above courses that you can complete through University. Depending on your background, your personal attributes, and your passion for the industry, completing a two or three years of full time study for a diploma or degree may or may not be necessary.

It will be in your best interests if you can gain work experience, or work alongside a practicing nutritionist or similar while you are studying, so you can develop a sound understanding and gain valuable clinical experience.

Once you have finished your studies you will need to decide whether to go into practice by yourself, gain employment, or work under the umbrella of an existing health clinic, gym, or similar. Many people find that it is beneficial at first to try to gain employment or work with an existing team if possible, then move into self-employment. This, however, may or may not be possible. Many nutrition counsellors will work for themselves.

When planning on being self-employed, it is advised to gain at least basic business skills. You will also need to develop strong marketing and networking skills in order to build your business.

When you have started practicing, it is important that you keep up to date with changes in the field, and latest research. It is good to be a part of seminars on nutrition and health. Most nutritional supplement companies have seminars a few times a year to give the latest research on many different subjects. Also, universities and other schools sometimes hire specialists in the field for sharing the latest research and approaches to nutrition. You will also find academic Journals covering research innovations and latest studies in nutrition and dietetics.

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Sample from One of the Modules - Biochemistry II

There are over eighty naturally occurring amino acids. Twenty of these are the molecules that form the basis of proteins, and due to that they are called standard amino acids. They are the ones found in vertebrate animals’ body. The rest of the amino acids, non-standard, are found in plants, bacteria and animal, where they may perform important roles as neurotransmitters (GABA), enzymes and other functions.

Below is the list of those amino acids, and between brackets, their name abbreviation:

In the table above are shown in bold the so called essential amino acids, which human beings have to consume in their diet in order for their metabolism to function properly (in good health). The other amino acids can be synthesized from the former through specific biochemical pathways.

Amino acids link between each other by “peptide bonds”. When they form short chains they are called peptides, when they make up longer chain they are named polypeptides. The process is called “polymerization”. A peptide bond is the link that forms when an amino group (-NH₂) links to a carboxylic group (-COOH) from another amino acid.

The Course

Our nutrition courses are designed by specialists in the field to ensure our students develop knowledge of the links between diet and degenerative diseases, understand how nourishment (or lack of it) affects mental and physical performance, foetal development and much more...

Achieve success with the help of our highly qualified tutors and academic staff who are thrilled to help people do well. Some possible career opportunities include working in the food industry, food provision, health care, education and public relations. You might opt for further study to go for a career in clinical nutrition, sports nutrition, community nutrition, public health or clinical studies. A research career and private practice are also possible with further study.