A nutritionist is a person who studies or is an expert in nutrition.
What is the salary of a nutritionist in Ghana?
A person working as a Dietitian in Ghana typically earns around 9,750 GHS per month.
Salaries range from 4,480 GHS (lowest) to 15,500 GHS (highest). This is the average monthly salary including housing, transport, and other benefits.
What Does a Nutritionist Do?
The duties of a nutritionist vary considerably depending on the specific individual that they’re working with. For instance, a dietician or nutritionist might guide a patient with high blood pressure on how to use less salt when preparing a meal.
Others, on the other hand, might plan a diet with reduced processed foods and sugars to help overweight people lose weight. However below are the typical duties of a nutritionist.
Explain nutrition and what it can do for the client
Assess clients’ health needs and diet
Develop meal plans, taking both cost and clients’ preferences into account
Evaluate the effects of meal plans and change the plans as needed
Promote better nutrition by giving talks to groups about diet, nutrition, and the relationship between good eating habits and preventing or managing specific diseases
Keep up with the latest nutritional science research
What Can I Do With a Nutrition Degree?
A degree in food, nutrition, and dietetics can lead to a range of fulfilling and exciting roles. These could include:
Dietician
Food developer
Food technologist
Health and wellness coordinator
Health promotion specialist
Naturopath
Nutritionist.
Requirements to Study Nutrition and Dietetics in Ghana
There are some requirements that you must meet before being offered admission to study nutrition and dietetics at a Ghanaian university.
For a BSc degree in nutrition and dietetics, applicants must have a strong science background. Applicants are also expected to have at least a credit in the following subjects Chemistry, Biology, Core Mathematics, Physics, and English Language.
For an MSc degree in nutrition and dietetics, applicants must obtain a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics or a related discipline. Some universities may require applicants to have at least a second class lower division at BSc level.
Universities Offering Nutrition and Dietetics in Ghana
Below is the list of accredited universities offering nutrition and dietetics in Ghana.
University of Ghana
University of Health and Allied Health Sciences
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.
University of Cape Coast.
University for Development Studies (Nutritional Sciences)
Reasons for Becoming a Nutritionist
Why do you want to be a nutritionist? If you truly want to help people choose their foods more wisely and live a healthier lifestyle, this is a great motivating factor.
If you simply want to market a product that you are selling with a claim that it will improve health, this is not a good reason to become a nutritionist.
Working to help people become healthier is the number one reason most nutritionists have entered the field, and they have a passion for changing people’s lives