Clinical nutrition involves using the Nutrition process with extensive use of the principles of medical nutrition therapy (MNT) for patients in healthcare facilities. Community nutrition is public health-focused, with a large emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion.
Dr. Mavis Ermakov, Registered Dietitian, CDCES.
Clinical nutrition deals with nutritional disorders in individuals, and therefore the medical profession is more suitable to handle it. In contrast, community nutrition deals with malnutrition in communities, which requires a multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary approach. The medical profession alone is not enough to tackle the problem of community nutrition
Both science branches of nutrition, clinical nutrition and community nutrition have developed into distinct fields. Clinical nutrition is concerned with addressing nutritional problems in individuals who suffer from health issues due to lack or excess of nutrients. Its focus is more on curative measures rather than preventive or promotive ones. On the other hand, community nutrition is concerned with malnutrition in larger populations; hence its emphasis is more on prevention and promotion.
Clinical nutrition refers to assess, diagnose, treat and follow-up all nutrition related health and medical conditions, deals with individual patients, while community nutrition describes and orients the dietary pattern, and food safety of all the population and in the level of community
Clinical nutrition is mostly a reactive strategy as opposed to community nutrition which is a proactive strategy to community health.
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