Shannon M. Despino, RD

Registered Dietitian

Ms. Shannon M. Despino is a Registered Dietitian in Boston, MA with special training and skill in assessing, diagnosing, and treating dietary and nutritional problems. As a Registered Dietitian, Shannon M. Despino, RD performs nutritional counseling for people who wish to lose weight, have an eating disorder, need a customized diet for health reasons, experience food allergies or intolerances, suffer a digestive disorder, or wish to improve athletic ability. Dietetics is a medical specialty focused on the use of food and nutrition to promote health and manage disease. Significant diseases and conditions treated by Registered Dietitians include anorexia, bulimia, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, acid reflux, cancer, obesity, pregnancy, food allergy and intolerance, and celiac disease. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Registered Dietitians include creating exclusion diet plans, advising patients on supplement use, creating specialized diet plans for diabetic patients, offering patient and parental nutrition education, prescribing some types of medication, and referring patients to other specialists as needed.

A Registered Dietitian (RD)/Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) is an individual uniquely trained in the science of nutrition and practice of dietetics to design and provide medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and other evidence-based applications of the Nutrition Care Process (NCP) that exemplify the profession's systematic approach to providing high quality nutrition care. Registered dietitians provide MNT for the purpose of disease prevention or management, or to treat or rehabilitate an illness, injury, or condition, with the use of specific, indicated physical and cognitive nutrition care services comprised of one or more of the following aspects of the NCP: nutrition assessment/reassessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention (e.g., nutrition counseling, therapeutic diet ordering, and nutrition education) and nutrition monitoring and evaluation.