Institute for Optimum Nutrition

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The Institute for Optimum Nutrition (ION) was founded by British nutritionist and author Patrick Holford in 1984. It was originally in London in the United Kingdom, but moved to Surrey in November 2005. According to its website, it is a "not-for-profit charity dedicated to the furtherance of the principles of optimum nutrition and to advance the knowledge and practice of nutritional therapy as a treatment complementary to traditional forms of medicine."

The ION runs courses and workshops in nutrition. They publish the Optimun Nutrition Magazine four times a year. They provide lists of 'approved' nutritionists in the UK, although nutritionist is not a protected title and the Institute therefore has considerable autonomy regarding who they choose to approve. ION offers a Home Study Course, and a three-year Diploma in Nutritional Therapy (DipION). The Institute is not an accredited Higher Education Institution, although its the University of Bedfordshire has recently agreed to validate its DipION as a foundation degree.

The British Dietetic Association has, however, accused the ION of basing its nutritional recommendations on weak evidence drawn from low quality research [1]. Prof David Colquhoun has criticised the University of Bedfordshire's decision to accredit the DipION: he argues that the ION is not the type of organisation which should be accredited in this way [2].