Diets are being dished out to the unsuspecting public by unqualified people, highlighting the dearth of nutritionists and dieticians, according to a registered public health nutritionist.

To prescribe diets you need to understand genetics and health

From beauty therapists prescribing diets to salesmen selling shakes promising weight loss, the public is being bombarded with unhealthy misconceptions that often just provide short-term results, according to Claire Copperstone.

“Obesity is multi-factorial; it’s not about eating too much or exercising too little. To prescribe diets you need to understand genetics and health. Plus the most important thing is that once you lose weight, you maintain it,” she said.

As the population waddles to the top of the European obesity charts – the latest survey reconfirmed Maltese men as the fattest in the EU, and women the second most obese – the lack of professionals researching the field of obesity is further punctuated.

With this in mind, the University’s Department of Food Studies and Environmental Health has set out to introduce a BSc in Applied Food and Nutritional Sciences.

Ms Copperstone said this would be the first time an undergraduate degree was being offered in Malta to churn out the much-needed nutritionists and dieticians. Mater Dei Hospital alone needs a minimum of 20 dieticians and at the moment there are just two.

The course will open in October 2012, and the department is keen to start publicising this four-year degree from now because when it opened it up for this academic year just a handful applied because so few knew about it.

Ms Copperstone also believes that people may also have the wrong idea of what a nutritionist really does. Nutrition is a science and weight loss is just a small percentage of the job description.

Research is one very important component and Ms Copperstone believes Malta is one of the few European countries that does not have a clear picture what society is eating.

“We don’t have a picture of the proper dietary situation or that of our children. For example, how many grams of sugar or salt do the Maltese consume every day? Is it excess carbs making us fat, or should we be targeting portion size? We don’t know because we don’t have a survey giving us the answers,” she said.

The degree will, after three years, produce food scientists who can enter the industry of food manufacture, processes, control and production; after four years it will produce qualified nutritionists or dieticians.

“We want students sitting for their A levels to view this as an exciting new career,” Ms Copperstone said.

For more information send an e-mail to food.healthsciences@um.edu.mt or claire.copperstone@um.ed.mt.