Course
2

Autoimmunity

Overview
Develop a structured framework to identify triggers, immune dysregulation, and inflammatory patterns, allowing you to build personalised, remission-focused strategies for autoimmune clients.
Format
Online
Units
26
Recommended for
  • Hashimoto’s disease
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Long COVID
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Psoriasis
Autoimmunity

The learning framework

1
The limits of symptom-based autoimmune care
Autoimmune conditions now affect more than one in ten adults worldwide, with prevalence continuing to rise. Yet most conventional approaches focus on suppressing symptoms through anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive medications, without addressing the mechanisms that initiate immune dysregulation. Critical drivers such as gut permeability, molecular mimicry, chronic infections, environmental toxins, nutrient depletion, and loss of immune tolerance are frequently overlooked.
2
Why immune dysregulation is commonly missed
Conventional care rarely investigates why the immune system begins attacking the body’s own tissues, leaving many clients on lifelong medication without strategies to restore immune balance, repair gut integrity, reduce antigenic load, or address upstream drivers. At the same time, practitioners receive minimal training in identifying early immune activation, assessing the interconnected systems that govern immune tolerance, or applying evidence-based interventions that support regulation rather than blanket suppression.
3
A systems-based framework for autoimmunity
The autoimmunity module trains you to understand autoimmune processes at their origin. It explores how immune tolerance is shaped by gut integrity, infection burden, environmental exposures, nutrient status, and mitochondrial health. Using this systems-based framework, you’ll learn to identify early immune imbalance, build phase-based strategies that restore regulation, and guide clients toward sustainable improvement and potential remission, all within appropriate educational and professional scope.

What you'll learn

By the end of this module, you will be able to:
Understand immune regulation and loss of tolerance
Recognising Th1/Th2/Th17 balance, T-regulatory cell function, immune checkpoints, and the mechanisms driving autoimmune activation including genetic susceptibility, environmental triggers, gut dysfunction, infections, and molecular mimicry.
Assess the role of gut integrity in autoimmunity
Understanding how intestinal permeability, dysbiosis, SIBO, and food antigens allow immune exposure to foreign proteins, triggering systemic inflammation and cross-reactivity with self-tissues.
Identify infection as an autoimmune trigger
Recognising how viral reactivation, chronic bacterial infections, and molecular mimicry initiate or perpetuate autoimmune responses.
Interpret functional markers of immune activation
Using inflammatory markers, antibody panels, immune cell ratios, and nutrient status to detect early immune dysregulation before clinical diagnosis.
Apply autoimmune nutrition protocols
Implementing anti-inflammatory diets, gut healing strategies, and nutrient repletion that modulate immune response and support tolerance.
Address environmental and lifestyle triggers
Identifying and reducing exposures that increase immune burden, disrupt tolerance, and drive autoimmune flares.
Build phased autoimmune protocols
Sequencing interventions through gut restoration, infection management, toxin reduction, nutrient repletion, and immune retraining, operating within scope while recognising when medical co-management is required.

Why this matters

The ability to support the fastest-growing chronic disease category
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Autoimmune conditions are increasingly common, and clients seek practitioners who understand root causes beyond symptom suppression.
Confidence in complex, multi-system cases
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You'll connect immune dysfunction to gut health, infections, hormones, and environmental factors.
Better client outcomes
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Addressing triggers and restoring immune balance often reduces symptoms, lowers antibody levels, and supports remission or disease stabilisation.
Professional differentiation
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Autoimmune expertise positions you as capable of supporting conditions conventional care often manages poorly.
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Autoimmune Disease
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Lupus
Naturopathy
Psoriasis
Multiple Sclerosis
Celiac Disease
IBD
Crohn’s Disease
Your path to becoming a Certified Practitioner

How to get started

1st Step
Submit your Application
Apply online in just a few minutes. Our team will review your experience, education and goals to ensure this certification aligns with your professional path.
2nd Step
Join the IOH community
Once accepted, you’ll gain instant access to our global network of practitioners, mentors and resources that support your learning from day one.
3rd Step
Begin your first module
Start your studies inside the IOH learning portal — with guided mentorship, live calls, and access to the Oracle AI system that turns knowledge into action.

Expand your knowledge

All Courses
What does an Integrative Nutritional Therapist do?
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An Integrative Nutritional Therapist utilises the latest evidence-based research to create an integrative approach to optimising each client’s health and wellbeing.

They design bio-individual nutrition plans, personalise supplementation where appropriate, and interpret functional laboratory data, including blood work, to gain deeper insights, achieve better accuracy and tailor every intervention to the individual.

How is functional medicine different from conventional medicine?
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Conventional medicine often waits until a disease is clearly present before intervention begins. Treatment is focused on managing or suppressing a diagnosed condition.

Functional medicine looks upstream. It assesses the early drivers of dysfunction and works to prevent disease from developing in the first place, or restore balance in the body. It uses a whole-systems view of the body, then applies personalised, preventative nutrition and lifestyle interventions to support long-term health rather than only reacting once things have gone wrong.

What will be my scope of practice after completing this certification?
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After completing the certification, you will be recognised and insured as a Integrative Nutritional Therapist inclusive of Nutritional Therapy and Functional Blood Work, with a clearly defined scope of practice.

You will be trained and insured to:

  • Design bio-individual nutrition plans
  • Recommend and prescribe over-the-counter supplementation up to safe, optimal intake thresholds
  • Utilise functional blood work from a wellness perspective to guide your reasoning and recommendations
  • Collaborate with and refer to medical professionals when red flags, pathology or out-of-scope conditions are identified

Our scope of practice has been aligned with nutritional therapy standards and externally audited, so you can work with confidence and clarity.

Is your course accredited?
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Yes. Our certifications are accredited by multiple independent professional bodies, including the International Institute for Complementary Therapists (IICT) and the Complementary Medical Association (CMA).

To receive these accreditations, our curriculum undergoes forensic external auditing to ensure every component is up to date, evidence-informed, ethically delivered and aligned with recognised Nutritional Therapy and Functional Health standards. This includes rigorous evaluation of our academic content, assessments, delivery methods and scope of practice frameworks.

This external oversight gives you confidence that the qualification you are investing in is credible, robust and widely recognised within the industry, with clear pathways for insurance, professional membership and global practice.

Will I be able to practise internationally?
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Yes. Our graduates are eligible for insurance through IICT that is recognised across 36 countries, including:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden & United Kingdom.

This allows you to work with clients internationally, including in online practice, provided you respect local regulations and the scope of practice defined by your insurer and professional associations.

Need help?
Get in touch with us
Clarity, confidence, and real results start with one conversation. Let’s map your next chapter — together.