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Numerous career options for nutritionists range from improving personal dietary practices to the pursuit of new knowledge through research. Opportunities can be found in health care facilities, the food industry, educational or research institutions, and community service agencies.

For example, dietitians in hospitals are responsible for ensuring that patients receive the diet most suitable to their conditions. A hospital dietitian’s duties range from the therapeutic aspects of dietetics (helping patients understand how specific diets can influence their disease and how they can best modify their eating habits) to the administrative aspects (such as supervising food production, planning of special diets, and management of food service systems). The hospital dietitian also acts as a source of nutrition information for outpatients and the community.

Dietitians can work in private practice as consultants to individuals, corporations, medical care groups, and nursing homes. Nutritionists are needed by the food industry to develop new products and to provide nutritional information for these products.

Many community service programs, such as WIC, School Lunch, Food Stamps, Elderly Nutrition, and Cooperative Extension Services, depend on nutritionists to provide the planning and implementation of nutrition education and intervention. Also, international development agencies such as United Nations organizations need nutritionists for these roles.