Eating right: critical dietetics, dietitians and ethics

Ethical issues are usually brought to dietetic practices through ethical principles that are supported by professional associations. The purpose of ethics is to encourage best practice and respectful relationships between professionals and their various patients and communities. A broader understanding of ethics situates practices within particular forms of knowledge and within particular cultures. What may pass as ethical and eating ‘right’ in one situation may not be so clear in another. An appreciation of the fundamental concepts in dietetic practices and the assumptions that are embedded within these practices provides an opportunity to explore ways of appreciating critical dietetics principles.