BANT is a professional organisation for practitioners of nutrition and lifestyle medicine.

BANT practitioner members are required to be registered either with Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) or be statutorily regulated. CNHC holds a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA), an independent body accountable to the UK Parliament.

Only Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioners and Registered Dietitians are trained and qualified in clinical practice to meet national standards and work in a one to one setting.

Registered Nutritionists have met training and qualification standards and work with groups, and the wider industry, academia and in non-clinical settings.

BANT members are required to meet Continuing Professional Development (CPD) standards.

Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC)

The independent UK regulator for complementary healthcare practitioners.

CNHC was set up with government support to protect the public by providing a UK voluntary register of health practitioners.

CNHC's register has been approved as an Accredited Register by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, a body accountable to Parliament.

There is so much information available, telling us what to eat, how to live etc. Which can be very overwhelming trying to find out what is right for you and your family, especially when you are so busy, and have little time to do any research.

A nutritional therapist is useful if you or your child have a persistent symptom and you are looking for some extra support. Or you would like some dietary advice to help you or your child because you don’t know who to trust or where to start.

Nutritional Therapy is not a diet, Nutritional Therapists use different tools to assess and identify your nutritional imbalances, they are trained to assess your symptoms, focusing on the root cause of a symptom, which could be diet or lifestyle related.

They use information gathering and sometimes testing to understand how these may contribute to the symptom.

Nutritional therapists do not diagnose or treat a disease, nutritional science is applied to promote your health. The information gathered is used to support you and address your health goals.

Nutritional Therapy is considered a complimentary medicine and is practiced alongside mainstream healthcare.

It is not an option for a quick fix, using a nutritional approach can take time and requires you to take ownership of your health, with our support.

I have a Food Science Degree from the University of Leeds.

I have a Diploma in Nutritional Therapy after 3 years of studying at The Institute of Optimum Nutrition (ION). The course combines the latest theoretical knowledge from nutrition, science and psychology of behavioral change.

ION is a BANT-accredited course.

The title ‘nutritional therapist’ is not protected, to make sure you are getting an approved therapist, they must be registered with BANT (The British Association of Nutritional Therapist) and the CNHC (The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council).

Only if a practitioner has completed an accredited course at a degree level or a postgraduate diploma can they apply for BANT membership.

Registration is voluntary, but members must have been trained from an accredited course, prove they have continued to train every year after qualifying and follow specific codes of conduct to remain certified and be insured.