Legislative Affairs > State Laws

New Jersey

New Jersey requires a license to practice Medical Nutrition Therapy and licenses Dietitians and Nutritionists/Certified Nutrition Specialists® (C.N.S.s). Holistic nutrition professionals may work within their scope of practice providing individualized nutrition counseling that does not target a medical condition or practice Medical Nutrition Therapy. The law also protects the titles and states, “Any unlicensed individual in New Jersey will be prohibited from using the following professional titles: “dietitian nutritionist,” “nutritionist,” “dietitian,” “dietician,” “nutrition counselor,” “nutrition specialist,” “L.D.N.,” “L.D.,” “LN,” “nutritional therapy practitioner,” “nutritional therapy consultant,” “certified nutrition therapy practitioner,” “master nutrition therapist,” “licensed dietitian nutritionist,” “licensed nutritionist” or any other title, designation, words, letters, abbreviations, or insignia indicating one as a provider of medical nutrition therapy or as licensed the law, unless licensed to practice.”

Exemptions for holistic nutrition professionals

A person shall not practice dietetics/nutrition, whether compensated or not, unless the person holds a valid license to practice in this State, except nothing in this act shall be construed to:

(3)   prohibit any person from practicing dietetics and nutrition within the scope of the person’s official duties when employed by a department, agency, bureau, division, or other unit of the federal government, serving in the Armed Forces of the United States, or employed by any State institution or facility;

(4)   prohibit any person who does not hold himself or herself out to be a licensed dietitian nutritionist or licensed nutritionist from furnishing nutrition information, providing evaluation, guidance, information, and education as to the use of food, food materials, or dietary supplements, or from engaging in the explanation to persons as to the use of food or food products including dietary supplements;

(5)   prohibit any person providing medical weight control from doing so through a program of instruction that has been approved in writing by a licensed dietitian nutritionist or licensed nutritionist in this State, a dietitian nutritionist or nutritionist licensed in another state that has licensure requirements substantially equivalent to those of this State, as determined by the board, a dietitian registered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration, a nutritionist certified by the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists, a Diplomate of the American Clinical Board of Nutrition, or is part of a plan of care overseen by a New Jersey State licensed health care provider who is legally authorized to provide nutrition care services for the purpose of treatment or management of a disease or medical condition;

(8)   prohibit any individual from providing nutrition information, guidance, encouragement, individualized nutrition recommendations, behavior change management, coaching, assessments, weight control services, or other nutrition care services that do not constitute medical nutrition therapy as defined in section 3 of P.L.2019, c.331 (C. 45:16B-3), provided that the individual does not hold himself or herself out as a licensed dietitian nutritionist or licensed nutritionist or as a provider of medical nutrition therapy.

A link to the full law is provided below:

https://www.lawserver.com/law/state/new-jersey/nj-laws/new_jersey_laws_title_45_chapter_16b