Arkansas law requires a license to provide nutrition care, however it does not define the unlicensed practice of nutrition as a crime or provide for a civil penalty. Therefore the law is more akin to one that protects titles.
Under the law, the practice of dietetics is defined as “the integration and application of the principles derived from the sciences of nutrition, biochemistry, food, physiology, management, and behavioral and social sciences to achieve and maintain peoples’ health through the provision of nutrition care services.”
An explicit exemption exists which states that the law does not apply to “any health care professional or nutritionist from engaging in dietetics practice without a license under this Act, providing that said persons do not hold themselves out under the titles Dietitian, Licensed Dietitian, or Provisional Licensed Dietitian.”
Source: Title 17, Subtitle 3, Chapter 83 of the Arkansas Code (§ 17-83-104 – Exemptions)