English dieticians concerned about reaction of clients to genetic testing

A total of 24 dieticians from the United Kingdom were interviewed during and after the conference ‘Dieticians, genetics and genomics, here and now’ that was organised by the NHS-National Genetic Education and Development Centre with support of NuGO. Most interviewees had not heard about nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics and NuGO before this conference.

Eighteen interviewees find genetic testing relevant for dietetic practice, mostly for improving diagnosing disease and personal advice. Clients of few interviewees mention genetic testing, however clients of 6 interviewees do so.

Although only one dietician uses genetic testing when assessing personal factors of clients, 19 interviewees make use of family history. Clients of 20 interviewees bring up family history

themselves, mostly in the context of nutrition related illnesses such as diabetes, Crohn’s disease, Coeliaky, diabetes and overweight.

Chances for nutrigenomics

Dieticians mentioned general chances, such as ‘more individual advice’ and ‘a better understanding of the relation about food and health’. They also mentioned more detailed descriptions of chances, such as ‘evidence based work of dieticians’, ‘early diagnosing’ and ‘more accurate assessment of risk’.

Concerns about nutrigenomics

Concerns were related to responses and needs of clients: Six dieticians expressed concerns about a fatalistic reaction of their clients. Other concerns were about required costs and time, misuse of information and screening without advice and about ethical issues such as invasiveness on life and the right not to know.

Providing information
Dieticians expect information about nutrigenetics and –genomics to be provided by the British Dietetic Association (BDA) because of their leadership in keeping dieticians up to date. Eight interviewees did expect NuGO to inform them, mostly because of the access to scientific information. The NHS was preferred by 7 interviewees because of their trustworthiness, quality and authenticity. Most interviewees prefer to be informed through presentations at dietetic conference, educational material, Internet, publications in scientific journals (mostly the BDA journal) and courses at the school for dietetic education and university. A discussion platform on the internet was of interest for 4 interviewees, an internet-based course for 10 interviewees.

For more information please contact Laura Bouwman (laura.bouwman@wur.nl)

Note: the results of this study are an indication of perceptions of English dieticians and do not necessarily represent views of individuals or professional organisations.