Dietician

A Clinical Nutritionist / Dietician provides a high quality therapeutic and nutritional advisory service to improve a person's health. This may be done within the hospital setting as part of a multi-professional team or within the community.

A healthy well balanced diet is of benefit to everyone and in MS it can help fight fatigue and also help to prevent constipation, a common symptom of MS. A person with MS is encouraged to eat a balanced diet containing a variety of vitamins and minerals, which are essential for growth, repair and general health. An adequate fibre and fluid intake helps prevent constipation while maintaining an acceptable weight that will help reduce fatigue.

Many different diet therapies have been advocated in the management of MS. Some of these are based on scientific studies and trials while others rely on anecdotal evidence. Interpretation and maintenance of these diets can often prove difficult and expensive and require many changes to your lifestyle. Some of these diets are not advocated by qualified Clinical Nutritionists / Dieticians for use in people with MS. Therefore, it is essential that each person's requirements are assessed individually so that they may achieve a balanced diet which best suits their own physical and lifestyle needs.

In some centres the Clinical Nutritionist/ Dietician works as part of a multi-disciplinary team in the care of those with MS. In this situation, one may access the dietician while attending the multi-disciplinary MS clinic. Otherwise a Clinical Nutritionist/ Dietician will be available through referral from the hospital consultant.