“What we eat reveals who we are”

The work of a dietitian is often associated with nutrients and calories, but Elin Lövestam, newly appointed professor at the Department of Food Studies, Nutrition and Dietetics at Uppsala University, is just as interested in other aspects of food and eating.

“In a qualitative study I conducted with patients suffering from severe taste disorders as a result of COVID-19, several of them cried during the interview,” she says.

Elin Lövestam applied to the Dietetics Programme because she was interested in nutrition – an interest that developed when she became a vegan as a teenager. A course in food sociology, taught by Professor Emerita Christina Fjellström, sparked her curiosity about how food can be viewed from social and cultural perspectives.

“What we eat shapes our identity; it reveals who we are,” says Elin Lövestam.

Taste disorders after COVID-19

In the study of individuals with taste disorders after COVID-19, there were those who felt that food they had previously enjoyed tasted like sewage. For example, the fact that cinnamon no longer tastes like cinnamon can be very disconcerting. Many found it difficult to eat at restaurants or in lunch rooms.

“Some also had problems taking in enough energy because of this, but that wasn’t what they found most difficult to deal with. It was instead what they missed out on when they couldn’t share meals,” says Elin Lövestam.

Research focusing on communication

As a newly qualified dietitian, she worked for a few years at the Swedish Food Agency but later returned to university as a doctoral student. In 2015, she defended her thesis on dietitians’ documentation in patient records.

“Communication is something of a common thread in my research,” says Elin Lövestam.

In her thesis, she analyses the content and language of patient records, and how dietitians express themselves when talking about food. As a dietitian, you move between the medical and the everyday world of the layman.

“We need to navigate this grey area. Medically speaking, you talk about ‘consuming carbohydrates’, but to the patient you might instead phrase it as ‘eating pasta’. It’s a constant process of translation,” says Elin Lövestam.

Often linked to values

Particularly since food is often linked to values, dietitians also need to be able to adapt their language when dealing with patients from different backgrounds and with different problems. At the same time, they must, of course, keep the medical aspects in mind.

“There is always a risk that someone will perceive being told how they should eat as intrusive. That’s why you need to be careful so you can set common goals,” says Elin Lövestam.

She is also project manager for INIS (International Nutrition Care Process and Terminology Implementation Survey), which aims to develop the practice of Nutrition Care Process and Terminology (NCP/NCPT), an international framework and terminology for dietitians.

“The project includes 23 countries. Our aim is to find out how communication works with patients, with other healthcare professionals and between dietitians. Do we all mean the same thing when we talk about matters such as weight loss or low vitamin intake?”

There is a shortage of qualified dietitians

Since 2022, Elin Lövestam has been coordinating the InSyNC (Integrating Sustainability in Nutrition Care) research school. This is a collaboration between all three Swedish universities that award degrees in dietetics: Uppsala, Umeå and Gothenburg. The background to the project is that there is a need for more dietitians with PhDs. There is a shortage of qualified dietitians, and those who graduate from the programme usually find jobs immediately. The Swedish Association of Registered Dietitians currently has around 1,300 members, the majority of whom work in treatment.

“We need to strengthen expertise for the dietetics programmes of the future. The healthcare system is fighting over the professional dietitians that are available,” says Elin Lövestam, who herself is glad she chose to start researching.

“There is so much to be done in this area. With my research, I want to help both patients, who may be in difficult life situations, and fellow colleagues in my own profession.”

Sigrid Asker