How to Become a GLP-1 Nutrition Counseling Specialist: Degree Requirements & Training

Part 2 of Our Series on GLP-1 Nutrition and Dietary Counseling

Nutritional counseling isn’t always straightforward. Registered dietitians and other nutritionists routinely have to work around many different factors when assessing and making dietary recommendations and restrictions, such as:

• Adequate nutrients
• Calorie needs and energy intake
• Weight, physical activity, and personal goals
• Disease and medical conditions

Specialization pays off for experts who focus on mastering the thorny details of practice in each of these areas. That’s particularly true when it comes to offering counseling for new GLP-1 medical weight-loss therapies.

If you aren’t familiar with the GLP-1 receptor agonists like Wegovy and Ozempic, be sure to check out Part 1 of our series, where the history and use of these weight-loss medications is fully explained.

These medications have their own side effects that nutritionists have to be aware of. Uniquely, they also present nutritional challenges stemming from their primary effects: lowered insulin production and suppression of appetite.

That means that even in cases where these drugs are working entirely as intended, medical professionals have to watch out for bone and muscle loss, nutrient deficiencies, and electrolyte imbalances.

That’s a role where nutritional experts specializing in GLP-1 therapies can make a difference.

The following bachelors and Master’s programs offer career-focused instruction delivered by trained nutritionists with experience in the field. Find out more what each individual course of study offers through the locations below.

How the Role for Nutritional Counseling Experts in GLP-1 Therapy Has Emerged as One of the Most Promising in the Profession

These therapies have taken off like a rocket in the United States. In 2024, Ozempic was the third best selling drug in the country, with sales growing by 25 percent from 2023, which had already been a blockbuster year at nearly $40 billion in sales. And newcomers in the field are increasing at even faster rates, with Wegovy increasing by 83 percent and Mounjaro by a whopping 123 percent.

It was clear almost from the start that all the GLP-1 treatments could minimize the side effects that come with those medications. Just as important, they maximize the efficiency of treatment, with intensive behavioral and nutritional counseling offered along with the medication.

That opens a huge door in an exploding market for nutritionists and dietitians specializing in GLP-1 counseling treatments.

GLP-1 Specializations Are Still Being Worked Out for Nutritionists and Dietitians

Just like the drug therapies are still finding their way in medical circles, though, it’s still a little early for the nutritionist profession to have developed recognized standards and requirements for working with GLP-1 treatments.

There are no specialized degrees or even coursework in offering counseling for GLP-1 patients, for example. Although it’s best practice to involve nutritionists in GLP-1 therapy, medical professionals don’t always have a clear resource to turn to.

In fact, part of the drive for specialization may also be a need for improving provider education. Although best practices call for intensive nutritional and behavioral counseling to accompany GLP-1 prescriptions, many of the doctors writing these scripts aren’t necessarily aware of it yet.

This is the ground floor in the advance of GLP-1-based weight loss drugs. Almost any nutritionist can get on the elevator as it heads to the top.

On the other hand, the good news is that the most important kinds of preparation for offering GLP-1 specialized nutritional counseling aren’t really that specialized at all. The standard training that every certified or licensed nutritionist receives is a solid foundation. Even graduates with only an associate’s degree in nutrition will have many of the building blocks needed to get started in this field.

For now, then, you don’t need any special education or training to call yourself a GLP-1 nutrition specialist.

What Are the Current Options To Become Certified as a GLP-1 Nutrition Counseling Specialist?

Options for official certification are popping up fast in the GLP-1 world, though.

You probably already know that there’s practically a full alphabet soup of different nationally recognized nutrition licensing bodies… CDR, AND, CBNS, and so on. And that’s before you get to the less official but often influential certifications from various other specialized groups in areas like fitness nutrition, ketogenic diets, and so on.

The entry of GLP-1 specialization into the field has only increased the range of options for those specialized certs. But it’s too soon for the big players to have rolled out options. Instead, you’ll be looking to smaller, leaner groups that offer training for GLP-1 nutrition specialists.

In some cases, available certifications are built around specific treatment plans and systems designed to optimize GLP-1 treatments.

These programs typically don’t have any kind of educational requirements. You may not even need to be a trained or licensed nutritionist or dietitian to become certified. They are often cross-professional certifications, offered to coaches, healthcare professionals, or basically anyone who can pass the exam.

What Will an Official Specialization in GLP-1 Nutritional Counseling Look Like?

It’s clear that people in the profession have been putting some deep thought into what GLP-1 specialization might look like. A 2024 research paper from Stony Brook University interviewed a range of dietitians to establish best practices in GLP-1 patient counseling. Their findings emphasized:

• Engaging with other professionals, including doctors and nurses, managing individual patient cases
• The importance of developing individualized nutritional plans around patient needs
• Addressing mental health and body image issues alongside medication use and nutritional counseling

That points toward coursework in areas like:

• Microbiology
• Human nutrition
• Physical education and activity
• Human anatomy and physiology
• Psychology

You can expect specialist training to revolve around holistic treatment for lifestyle factors and health issues, side effect management, and an emphasis on delivering care as part of an inter-professional team.

With as quickly as GLP-1 therapies are coming to market, you can expect to see more interest in, and more focus on developing, dedicated professional certifications for nutritionists.

Official certifications can raise awareness of this critical role in GLP-1 therapies.

What Are the Best Degrees To Earn for Becoming a GLP-1 Nutritional Counseling Specialist?

A bachelor’s degree in dietetics and nutrition may be the ideal place to cover the range of skills and knowledge that GLP-1 nutritional counselors need.

That might seem counterintuitive since a master’s program is the new standard for RDNs, as well as a more advanced course of study. But while a master’s degree will go deeper and into more food science, physiology, and clinical expertise, a bachelor’s is built for range.

That means that on top of the essentials around food and nutritional health, biochemistry, food preparation, and medical nutrition therapy, you’ll also find courses such as:

• Community and Public Health Nutrition
• Life Cycle Nutrition
• Introduction to Human Development
• Communication in Nutrition
• Professional Issues in Dietetics

And with nearly half the typical course load in undergraduate studies made up of electives and general liberal arts classes, you have a chance to specialize further with classes like:

• Psychology
• Healthcare Systems
• Biochemistry
• Fitness
• Counseling
• Pharmacology

These can give you an edge in building the connections you need with GLP-1 patients. They also help you understand better the underlying mechanisms of the drug and may unpack some of the side effects so you are better able to treat them with your nutritional knowledge.

Of course, fieldwork can also be valuable in honing expertise in both patient and inter-professional engagement. Many bachelor’s programs come with opportunities for practicum or internship placements as well. Although there aren’t yet specialized positions that focus on GLP-1 nutritional counseling, there are good chances you can find slots in organizations that have a lot of contact with those sorts of patients, like:

• Bariatric treatment facilities
• Hospitals
• Weight loss centers

Registered Dietetic Nutritionist Education Offers an Edge in Becoming a GLP-1 Specialist

While it’s perfectly legal to specialize in GLP-1 counseling as a nutritionist, the reality is that since these are prescription medications, most referrals for nutritional counseling will probably be made only to registered dietitians.

A registered dietitian nutritionist degree program should have ACEND accreditation, which ensures a level of quality and intensity in training that goes above and beyond. This includes specific standards in communication skills, counseling, and behavior change theories… exactly the strengths needed for effective GLP-1 counseling.

These degrees also have a required 1200 hours of dietetic internship, which ensures you will have fieldwork experience counseling patients directly. With a little planning, you can ensure that those hours will include at least some that involves GLP-1 counseling work… valuable practice for specializing in the field.

Where Can I Find Jobs as a GLP-1 Nutritional Counseling Specialist?

Considering how huge GLP-1 therapy has already become in a few short years, it might be harder to find positions that don’t have some GLP-1 counseling in them right now.

But that’s different from specialized roles where the majority of the work is about Ozempic and Wegovy case counseling.

Naturally, the closest you are to the point of prescription, the more likely you will find these roles. That leans toward nutritionist and registered dietitian positions that are directly tied to existing healthcare systems.

Current Weight Management Clinics Probably Have the Edge in Offering Positions For GLP-1 Specialization

In some cases, medical weight management programs already require RD consultation as part of the process for every patient. As GLP-1 prescriptions become a more common part of these programs, it’s likely that RDs working in these clinics and hospitals will build specialty expertise quickly.

Of course, like any dietitian, you’re also entirely free to start your own business specializing in GLP-1 consulting. It’s almost certain that existing healthcare practices won’t have enough staffing for these patients in the short-term. It’s also true that plenty of people are finding their way to Ozempic and Wegovy, or compounded alternatives, outside of existing support systems. They’ll need independent nutritionists to step up and help them through the process.

New online matching services like Berry Street and Fay are betting big on recruiting crops of specialized GLP-1 nutritional counselors.

Specializing as a GLP-1 Nutritional Counselor in Private Practice

Thanks to another trend in GLP-1 treatments, you don’t necessarily have to work for a clinic or hospital to specialize in working with GLP-1 patients. A whole crop of individuals are out there right now on their own, without any support system or prescription… but they need nutritional support, too.

This is all because GLP-1-based medications have been so enormously popular that Novo-Nordisk and Eli-Lilly, the major manufacturers behind Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound have had trouble keeping up.

As an alternative, the Food and Drug Administration has allowed pharmacies to create similar, but not officially approved, substitutes called compounded medications. These haven’t been rigorously tested and may not have identical ingredients. But they do have similar effects, and may be cheaper and easier to get.

While some compounded GLP-1 meds are procured with a doctor’s prescription, there are some pharmacies that aren’t so particular.

This opens up another avenue for nutritional counseling specialists.

According to a 2024 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, almost 20 percent of people taking GLP-1 drugs reported getting them online or from a non-medical treatment center.

While this is risky, it also means there is a substantial group of potential clients outside the traditional medical system. That means they aren’t getting referrals for nutritional consultations. But this group may need nutritional specialist support more than most. They haven’t been evaluated for risk factors. They probably haven’t been fully briefed on side effects, either, or how to deal with them.

An independent dietitian or nutritionist with marketing savvy and GLP-1 counseling expertise could be the answer.

Questions People Also Ask About Specializing in Nutritional Counseling for GLP-1 Therapies

Speaking of answers, we’re aware that most people come away from this subject looking for more of them. It’s a new, fast-changing, and unexplored field of practice, even for people who have been in the nutritional world for a while.

So we have put together a list of some of the most common questions that people also ask about becoming a nutritionist specialized in GLP-1 counseling. Chances are, if you didn’t find what you were looking for above, it will be right in here.

Is There a Difference Between Specializing in Treating GLP-1 Patients on Wegovy versus Ozempic?

Wegovy is primarily a weight loss drug while Ozempic is made to treat type 2 diabetes. However, although the dosages can be different, both are based on the same drug, semaglutide, and carry the same effects and side effects. So the work for nutritionists in both cases takes the same knowledge and expertise.

Of course, since the goals may be different for each type of patient, there’s a chance that many dietitians will end up with one group or the other by default. For example, someone in a bariatric health practice is probably going to see more Wegovy patients.

On the other hand, there’s also a lot of overlap between the two groups—obesity is a key risk factor for type 2 diabetes. So it may just depend on the discretion of the provider.

Are There Any Restrictions on Who Can Become a GLP-1 Nutrition Counseling Specialist?

Currently, there aren’t any special rules about who can offer GLP-1 nutrition counseling beyond existing state laws governing nutritionists. In some states, this means that you may be able to counsel clients without a license. In others, you’ll need a standard license or professional certification.

Although there are multiple organizations offering national professional certification for nutritionists, there isn’t any rule about what certs are allowed to perform GLP-1 nutrition counseling. However, it may be more likely that nutritionist certifications that are already more health and wellness-focused like AND or CNCB are a better choice versus sport and performance certs like those from ISSA or NASM.

What Is the Best Degree To Earn for a Nutritionist Planning To Specialize In GLP-1 Counseling?

Any kind of college degree in nutrition or dietetics is a good way to get started in GLP-1 nutritional counseling today. A four-year bachelor’s program offers the broadest preparation for this new field, and it’s a key step on the way to a full master’s degree in the field. That’s a must if you want to become a registered dietitian, with the more advanced training needed to work in medical settings and other places where GLP-1 drugs are most commonly prescribed.

What Is the Best Certification Available for GLP-1 Nutritional Counseling?

Currently, there is no official certification available for nutritionists working in GLP-1 counseling. While there are a number of organizations that offer certificates in the field, it’s too soon for them to be time-tested or evolved into a true standard.

Probably the best preparation is simply becoming a certified nutrition specialist or registered dietician in your state. This typically requires a combination of education, experience, and testing which will cover most of the essential bases in learning nutritional counseling skills. It also ensures that you will be legally allowed to offer GLP-1 nutritional counseling, among other types of dietetic roles.

Can You Offer Specialized GLP-1 Nutritional Counseling Without a License?

There are no particular legal requirements for offering nutritional counseling for GLP-1 therapies. However, each state may have rules and restrictions on delivering nutritional counseling in general. These will still apply, even if you are working with Ozempic or Wegovy patients.

Are There Other Weight Loss Drugs You Can Specialize in as a Nutritionist?

There are new breakthroughs in this field all the time, but most of them are currently closely connected.

GLP-1 receptor agonists are a relatively recent development in the diet and nutrition scene. Although developed originally in the 1990s, the drugs were rolled out slowly and initially only used for treatment of type 2 diabetes and other specific medical conditions.

Saxenda was the first of these approved for treatment specifically of obesity. A liraglutide closely related to the semaglutide found in Wegovy, Saxenda didn’t deliver quite the same bang for the buck. It also tended to have more unpleasant side effects.

But there’s no reason to think that Wegovy will be the end of the line. Medications like Mounjaro and Zepbound are also becoming popular, using a mechanism that combines GLP-1 with another hormone and may ultimately be even more effective. Highly trained nutritionists working with Wegovy and Ozempic will find that almost all their experience translates easily to the new generation of medications, however.