Healthcare

Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition

Christina Santini
Nutrition Expert

Christina Santini earned her bachelor’s degree in human nutrition with a concentration in biochemistry in 2008 from Metropol University Copenhagen. To add to her knowledge, she regularly attends conferences and symposiums focusing on eating disorders, food addiction, and other topics relating to nutrition. She is the owner of Santini, Inc., a company that specializes in holistic health care. According to her website, she focuses on the genetic makeup of her customers and finding the right dietary approach, herbs, amino acid therapy, and natural solutions for each of them. She also has a blog, where she discusses nutrition, health, and life, and she has numerous followers on Twitter, where she sends updates and advice about nutrition. When she’s not helping people work on their nutrition, she enjoys listening to Dean Martin, watching Mad Men, eating Valrhona chocolate, skiing, ice skating, and rollerblading.

Why did you choose to major in nutrition?

I love to help people reach their peak performance in life. That is what drives me. I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of medicinal nutrition and how to match it with each person’s unique biochemistry type.

Is there anything that you think your major is lacking?

It lacks the connection to brain chemistry, which is knowledge that I’ve had to acquire through work experience. There is a reason why your head is attached to your body — your brain controls your body. So, missing the brain chemistry part of nutrition means that you’re stuck focusing on the symptoms rather than understanding what’s causing the symptoms that clients come in with.

How has earning your degree impacted your career?

My education incorporated classes in coaching, statistics, product development, marketing, biochemistry, physiology, medicine, dietetics, microbiology, and cooking. Through these classes, I have gained an immense insight about the importance of working across multiple disciplines when problem-solving and be able to think outside the box. The generalization of my education has allowed me to later specialize after first having gained an understanding of the various factors at play when focusing on health matters.

How has what you learned from your major benefited your career?

I analyze clients’ blood labs and brain chemistry, and then coach them to be able to be compliant with the medicinal nutrition plans that I develop for them. Thus, my combination of using soft science and hard science has proved to be an immensely successful combination as I have clients signing up to do ongoing Skype sessions with me to keep on top of their game and stay on track of their health and well-being.

What advice do you have for anyone interested in this major?

The key to being a successful nutritionist is that you have to know the science behind nutrition avoid the pitfall of becoming just one more health guru who thinks that they can get away with simply talking about vitamins and calories that every average Joe can read about on the food label anyway. Also, income can be great for entrepreneurs or creative people who are able to think outside the box and work on commission, so don’t limit yourself to thinking you can only work as a hired dietitian on a baseline salary.