Dietary Designs
Jamie Alperin, MS, RD
MS usually stands for
Master of Science, RD stands for Registered Dietitian. No listing for this
individual could be found with the Colorado Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
(CAND), which is a non-profit professional organization representing registered
dietitians in Colorado. There is no requirement for dietitians to be licensed
with the State of Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA).
It is best to avoid
individuals whose credentials cannot be verified.
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Family Medicine of
Steamboat Springs
No names are listed, so no
credentials can be verified. The ad that consumers are directed to lists a
physician assistant and two medical doctors, however there is no mention of
anyone who may be qualified to advise clients on nutrition and diet. While
medical schools require courses that include the principles of nutrition, such
as physiology, most medical schools have no nutrition course requirements and
some schools only offer elective nutrition classes, which is why most doctors
refer patients to registered dietitians and most hospitals have registered
dietitians on staff.
This practice is listed
under several headings in Steamboat Bodyworks; Aesthetics & Skin Care,
Family Medicine, and Nutritional Supplements. All listings, as well as the ad
consumers are directed to, include mention of supplements or alternative
medicine, which is a term that always means supplements.
For that reason, Stephen
Barrett, MD, of Quackwatch cautions:
Beware of Unqualified
Individuals
…a small percentage of
licensed practitioners are engaged in unscientific nutrition practices. The
best way to avoid bad nutrition advice is to identify and avoid those who give
it. I recommend steering clear of:
- Anyone who says that everyone needs vitamin supplements to be sure they get enough. Most people can get all the vitamins they need by eating sensibly.
- Anyone who suggests that most diseases are caused by faulty nutrition. Although some diseases are diet-related, most are not.
- Anyone who suggests that large doses of vitamins are effective against a large number of diseases and conditions. That is simply untrue.
- Anyone who suggests hair analysis as a basis for determining the body's nutritional state or for recommending vitamins and minerals. Hair analysis is not reliable for this purpose.
- Anyone who claims that a wide variety of symptoms and diseases are caused by "hidden food allergies"
- Anyone who uses a computer-scored "nutrient deficiency test" as the basis for prescribing vitamins. There are valid ways that computers can be used for dietary analysis. But those used for recommending vitamins are programmed to recommend them for everyone.
- All practitioners—licensed or not—who sells vitamins in their offices. Scientific nutritionists do not sell vitamins. Unscientific practitioners often do—usually at a considerable profit.
More information for consumers
Both enterprises, Dietary Designs and Family Medicine of Steamboat Springs offer two trendy weight management concepts; metabolic testing and body composition analysis.
Metabolic testing involves
a breath test that measures the amount of oxygen the body consumes, which is
called the resting metabolic rate, which is then calculated with a factor based
on physical activity level, which then determines caloric needs to maintain,
lose, or gain weight.
Body composition analysis,
the measurement of the amount and distribution of body fat and lean mass, uses
testing methods that have questionable value:
Skinfold measurements, used
to predict body composition, are limited in assessment for whole body lean mass
or total fat mass, so are reliable only to predict regional fat mass, or fat
mass limited to certain areas of the body. In addition, accuracy of skinfold
measurements is dependent on the skill of the practitioner.
Body mass index (BMI)
cannot distinguish between fat and lean masses.
Waist circumference (WC) is
a measurement of central fatness, but not total fat.
Waist-hip ratio
measurements show inconsistent or no significant relationship to abdominal fat.
Bioelectric impedance
analysis (BIA) is highly inaccurate and not routinely used.
Are metabolic tests and
body composition analysis necessary for weight management?
These tests generally run over one hundred dollars a
pop and practitioners advise regular retesting, in order to check progress.
These tests are claimed to be useful for weight gain, maintenance, or loss, and
to provide information about individual metabolism rates that may be low,
normal, or high. But, by far, the most common use of these tests is for weight
loss and boosting metabolism.
Consumers can save money by
skipping the body composition analysis, after all, most people have at least a
general idea of their body composition.
Consumers can save even
more money by skipping the metabolic testing. Metabolism is regulated by the
body to meet the energy needed for functions such as breathing, cell repair,
blood circulation, digestion, etc., which accounts for about 70% of calories that
are burned every day. Other factors that influence metabolism and are outside
anyone's control are body size and composition, sex, and age, which leaves
physical activity as the only factor that can increase metabolism, which,
incidentally, is what the sellers of body composition analysis and metabolic
testing would recommend.
There is no cost to
figuring out a physical activity that can be enjoyed enough to do on a regular
basis. Body composition analysis and metabolic testing do not make people into regular
exercisers if they weren't already.
One more thing
Body composition analysis and metabolic testing
sellers often recommend supplements to boost metabolism. Those kinds of
supplements do not have any effect on metabolism, but are useful to boost the
bottom line for the people that sell them.
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Feeding the Body Feeding
the Soul, LLC
Nancy Cohen, RD,
Nutritionist
There is no requirement for
registered dietitians to be registered with the State of Colorado Department of
Regulatory Agencies (DORA). This individual is listed with CAND, Colorado
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a non-profit professional organization representing
registered dietitians in Colorado. The accepted credentials for Registered
Dietitian Nutritionist are correctly expressed as RDN.
The listing names the
services that are offered, which all fall under accepted professional
standards, except for the item at the very end, "and more..." and
that "more" is what consumers should be wary of as this individual
has two other listings in Steamboat Bodyworks, one under Energy Work, the other
under Psychic Medium, both of which are a long ways outside the standards of
practice for the profession of registered dietitians.
Registered dietitians who
offer psychic readings should probably be avoided.
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Tim Trumble, Dipl. OM
Dipl. OM stands for
Diplomate of Oriental Medicine, which is a certification by the NCCAOM,
National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine,
however, Tim Trumble's name does not appear in the NCCAOM practitioner database
or its registry, so this individual's use of this credential appears to be
illegitimate.
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Yampa Valley Medical Center
Nutrition Services
No names are listed.
Consumers must go to the website to find out more about these services and the
people who provide them. However, the website is not entirely helpful in that
no information is given regarding registration and none of the names that are
listed could be verified as registered. In addition, some names are followed by
other credentials that are unfamiliar and are not deciphered. The use of
established protocols for credentials would make it easier for consumers to
read and understand, as well as verify.
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