Below are listed various employment areas and specific career examples in each:

Hospitals, HMO’s, or other health care facilities: educating patients about nutrition and utilizing medical nutrition therapy; may also manage foodservice operations

• Registered Dietitian (RD)- works in hospitals, nursing and retirement homes, and dialysis centers; may be specialized in enteral/parenteral nutrition, pediatrics or gerontology. RD's are food and nutrition experts who have met specific educational criteria and work in a variety of employment settings, including those identified below:

Community/Public health: counseling and advising the public to improve their quality of life through healthy lifestyles, including healthful eating habits

• WIC (Women Infants and Children)- involves nutrition assessment, health status and growth, counseling, problem solving, writing, communication and education
• Cooperative Extension- in every state; design programs for people to promote healthy eating and lifestyles
• Public Relations- involves communication, public speaking, and writing
• Community Services Director- administers home delivered meals and congregate meal programs, transportation, and volunteer services for the elderly, and managerial work
• Intervention/Education Programs (ie: Coalition Against Hunger)- involves business management, teaching, and sales
• Author- writing books and magazine and newspaper articles

Universities and Medical Centers: teaching students, physicians, nurses, and others the science of nutrition, conducting research; usually requires an advanced degree

• Health Educator- works in a variety of areas such as smoking cessation programs, weight control, stress management, wellness promotion activities, and fitness and exercise programs

Schools, Day-care centers, and Correctional facilities: managing foodservice operations, overseeing food purchasing and preparation, and managing staff

• School Food Service Supervisor- plans healthy school menus, monitors cafeteria equipment and meal preparation; conducts nutrition education
• Food Service Specialists- coordinate demonstrations, workshops, and seminars; oversee recipe and kitchen development, and management

Sports nutrition and Corporate wellness programs: educating clients about the connection between food, fitness, and health

• Personal Trainer- weight management, nutrition analysis, and follow-ups
• Sports Nutritionist- modify diets to increase energy, maximize performance, nutritional status, and decrease the risk of injuries

Private practice: working under contract with health care or food companies, or with their own business; may provide services to restaurant managers, food vendors and distributors, athletes, nursing home residents, or company employees

• Educator- assist clients in nutrition therapy for eating disorders, weight control, renal disease or digestive disorders to achieve wellness

Food and Nutrition-related businesses and industries: working in communications, consumer affairs, public relations, marketing, or product development

• Contract companies- ie: ARAMARK, Sodexho-Marriott; includes healthcare support services and work with foodservice in kitchens to develop healthy meal options
• Recipes/Catering- develop food products and provide food services
• Restaurants and Food Distribution- interprets nutrition and food science, plans menus, analyzes recipes and menus, sales, marketing, and quality control

• Sales- works with product marketing and advertising; often involves traveling

Research: in food and pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, government agencies; conducting experiments to determine nutritional aspects of food and find alternative foods or nutrition recommendations; usually requires an advanced degree

• FDA- food research to determine nutritional quality and safety of food products
• USDA- Food Technologist- conducts evaluation of data for nutrient values, maintains file materials, studies factors that affect composition of food, summarizes data, writes results

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