Can you use an AI scribe for nutrition consultation notes?
In short: Yes, as long as the client agrees to the session being transcribed, the tool keeps their data somewhere you're allowed to keep health records, and you treat everything it writes as a draft. An AI scribe listens to or transcribes the consultation and drafts a summary and a note. You still read it against what was said, fix it and sign it, because the note is your professional record, not the software's.
1 min 6 s videoCaptions onUpdated 29 September 2026
What an AI scribe does
The tool captures the conversation, turns speech into a transcript, then asks a language model to write a summary, a structured note and sometimes follow-up tasks. The best ones stop there and hand you a draft. They don't write anything into the client record until you say so.
For dietitians and nutritionists the time saving is real. A 45-minute follow-up can take 15 minutes to write up from memory, and details like the exact breakfast, the new medication or the agreed protein target are the first to go. A transcript keeps them.
Consent comes first
Tell the client before the session that it will be transcribed, why, who can see the transcript and how long you keep it. Then ask again, out loud, at the start of the call, and note that they agreed. Put the same wording in your intake paperwork or booking confirmation so it isn't a surprise.
Make it easy to say no. Some clients will talk less freely about eating disorder history, alcohol, money or family if they know a machine is listening. Switch the scribe off for those sessions, or for part of one, and write the note yourself.
- Say what is captured: the words spoken, not video, unless your tool says otherwise.
- Say where it goes: the software company and any AI provider it uses.
- Say who reads it: you, and anyone in your practice with access to the record.
- Say how to opt out, now or later.
Check every draft before you save it
AI notes fail in predictable ways. Read the draft with the transcript open and look for these:
- Numbers. Energy targets, grams of protein, doses and weights are easy to mishear. "Fifteen" and "fifty" is the classic.
- Who said what. A model can turn your suggestion into the client's plan, or a question into an agreement.
- Things that were never said. Plausible filler, such as a goal the client didn't agree to or advice you didn't give.
- What's missing. Your clinical reasoning, your observations of how the client seemed, and anything said off-mic.
- Tone. A summary that sounds judgemental about weight or food choices has no place in a record the client may one day read.
Then shape it into your usual format. If you use SOAP or ADIME, the draft is raw material for the Subjective and Plan sections, and the assessment is still your job. See SOAP and ADIME notes for what belongs in each part.
Privacy and where the data goes
A transcript of a nutrition consultation is health information. Under the UK and EU GDPR it's special category data, in Australia and New Zealand the privacy principles for health information apply, and in the US HIPAA covers it when you're a covered provider. The tool you use has to meet whichever rules you work under.
Ask any vendor four questions: where the data is stored, which AI provider processes it, whether that provider can train on it, and how long transcripts are kept. If you need a signed agreement such as a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement or a data processing agreement, get it before the first recorded session.
Never paste a transcript or client details into a general chatbot on a personal account. That moves health records outside any system you control, and you can't take them back.
How to do it in Foodzilla
Foodzilla calls its AI scribe Smart summary. It works on calls made with Foodzilla Meet, the built-in video calls, and turns the transcript into a summary and suggested actions that do nothing until you apply them. Bookings is on the Professional plan and above.
- 1Go to Bookings, then Booking types, and open or create a booking type. On Event setup, choose Foodzilla Meet as the Location. Smart summary switches on with it; turn it off for any type where you don't want transcription.
- 2When Smart summary is on, the client sees "This call may be transcribed to create an AI summary for your practitioner." before they join. Ask for consent again at the start of the call.
- 3During the call, press Notes to write your own notes. They are private to you and saved as you type, separate from the AI summary.
- 4A few minutes after the call ends, go to Bookings, find the completed booking in Overview and press Smart summary. Read the Summary, then open the Transcript tab to check it against what was said.
- 5Under Suggested actions, review each one and press Apply or Dismiss. Save note adds a draft note to the client's record and sends nothing to the client. Update goals changes their health goals, and the AI is told to propose only numbers agreed in the call. Send message sends the chat message straight away, so read it first.
- 6If the booking isn't linked to a client, press Link client first. For a call started from Messaging, Record & AI summary is on unless you switch it off, and the summary appears in the Video Calls tab.
Good to know
- Say the numbers clearlyState agreed targets in full at the end of the call: "So that's 1,800 calories and 110 grams of protein a day." It gives the transcript one clean line to work from.
- Finish the note the same dayOpen the saved draft in Notes & Files while the session is fresh, add your assessment, then press Sign & Lock.
- Check your plan covers itFoodzilla's No-PHI plan covers recipes and meal plans only and doesn't collect client health information, so video calls and Smart summary are not part of it. The security page says where client data is stored.