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# What if my child nutrition client checks off a medical condition that requires a special diet?

Good question!

In here, we're getting into legal territory and we need to be mindful of our professional limitations - so do give your Module 21 Unit 1 another GOOD read!

In essence, nutrition professionals are NOT allowed to "prescribe" special diets for medical conditions. Only medical doctors and their teams inside the hospital can do this because it falls under "medical treatment".

Moreover, nutrition professionals CANNOT use the words "prescribe", "patient" and "treatment" in their client communications.

This applies to any nutrition professional, whether university-trained or not!

*Remember: Even university-trained nutrition professionals (many of whom also study with us at the academy) cannot use those words unless they're part of a hospital team, after having completed a few additional years of in-hospital training and then getting the relevant medical license depending on the regulations of their country.*

**Having said that, there's a lot you CAN do to support these clients!**

For example, you can work alongside a medical doctor or medical professional (e.g. a nurse or an in-hospital dietitian), and be in touch with them to support your client's child with any recommendations medically made.

Something useful that you can also do to assist your client is to provide them with key literature and resources about the condition.

These are some online resources you can point them to, which include a number of health conditions, treatments, and prevention:
* NHS Health Conditions A to Z: [__http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions__](http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions)
* MedlinePlus: [__Symptoms, causes, treatment and prevention of over 900 health conditions. A to Z online database__](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html).
* Mayo Clinic: [__A to Z online database with hundreds of health conditions__](https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/DiseasesIndex/DiseasesIndex).
* British Nutrition Foundation: [__https://www.nutrition.org.uk/health-conditions/__](https://www.nutrition.org.uk/health-conditions/)

**A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE FOR YOU**

So let's say for example that your client's child has ulcerative colitis.

In this case, the child's diet should be taken care of by a gastroenterologist, who would know exactly what kind of foods to put forward for their patient based on medical exams and testing, and they would have a much better idea since every case/every child is different.

That said, we can support this family with the implementation of their doctor's recommendations. How?

In many ways! For example:
* By helping the client to include those recommended foods in the child's diet.
* By giving them personalised meal ideas, shopping lists and new recipes to try.
* By introducing meal acceptance techniques and food sensory strategies.
* By getting them to complete relevant trackers from your certification in order to facilitate positive eating behaviour changes.
* By asking them to fill a food diary that they can then share with you AND their gastroenterologist.
* By sending them literature from the databases we listed above. For example, from the NHS database in list above, we can see some dietary recommendations for ulcerative colitis that we can suggest your client to read as well: [__https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ulcerative-colitis/living-with/__](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ulcerative-colitis/living-with/)

Most conditions have fundraising organisations too, which you can search online. And then you can encourage your client to explore those websites, such this one for ulcerative colitis: [__https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/__](https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/)

**One more suggestion!**

Ideally, any other client materials and forms from your certification filled by the client could also be shared with their gastroenterologist in their hospital appointments.

This way, their gastroenterologist can see a lot more patient information that they can do something useful with. And this is a great way for you to collaborate with doctors as well, helping them help their patients even more effectively.

Finally, inside the [__Nutritional Therapist Certification__](https://thehealthsciencesacademy.org/nutritional-therapist-professional-diploma-level-5/) we summarise the dietary needs for 40+ medical conditions, and here are the fact sheets for ulcerative colitis - we've made some screen shots from inside that certification for you just as an example:
* [__Brief description in here__](https://www.screencast.com/t/mYlFDZy9)
* [__Some dietary tips in here__](https://www.screencast.com/t/A2kiNNmwom8n)
* [__Key nutritional strategies in here__](https://www.screencast.com/t/LJsq1HACbqGf)

There's a lot of information packed in this article for you, so do take your time to go over everything!

AUTHOR: Alex Ruani, Research Director