Nutrition

Nutrition 255: Autoimmune Disease II

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Notebook page with the words Autoimmune Disease handwritten beside a stethoscope, magnifying glass, glasses and a pen on a wooden desk
Online Course Format:  Online
Course Tuition:   $40.00
Credit Hours ( CE ):  2
Instructor:  Howard Benedikt, DC, DCBCN
CLICK HERE for a list of states, provinces and countries this course is accredited in.

Online Chiropractic CE Course Description & Course Details

HomeOnline Course CategoriesNutritionAutoimmune Disease II

Notebook page with the words Autoimmune Disease handwritten beside a stethoscope, magnifying glass, glasses and a pen on a wooden desk

Nutrition 255 — at a Glance

Course:Autoimmune Disease II · 2 PACE-approved CE hours
Faculty:Howard Benedikt, DC, DCBCN · Clinical Nutrition Faculty, CCEDseminars
Format:On-demand online video with assessment · downloadable handouts · instant certificate
Pricing:$20/hr · automatic 10% off at 6–9 hrs, 20% off at 10+ hrs in one order · no promo codes
Approval:PACE Provider #34015544 · co-sponsored by Texas Chiropractic College · acceptance varies by state

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Autoimmune disease is showing up in the chiropractic office more often every year — as joint pain that does not behave like wear and tear, fatigue that does not match the workload, and a patient with a diagnosis and no dietary plan. Nutrition 255 is the second autoimmune course in the series: why the incidence is rising, what immune dysfunction actually is, how gut barrier dysfunction feeds it, and how to address the joint pain that brings these patients to a chiropractor.

Dr. Howard Benedikt takes the rising prevalence of autoimmune disorders as the starting point — the environmental, dietary and microbial reasons behind it — then works through immune dysfunction as a mechanism, gut barrier dysfunction and its implications for systemic inflammation, and the nutritional and dietary strategies that let a chiropractor offer proper support to the autoimmune patient: addressing the joint pain directly while working on the gut and immune drivers underneath it.

Choose Your Nutrition Path — Three Lanes, One Curriculum

The Nutrition library — sixty-eight courses by Howard Benedikt, DC, DCBCN — organizes into three working lanes: the gut, the brain, and the conditions you already treat. Nutrition 201–210 is the foundation block, 211–220 the second, 221–230 the third, 231–240 the fourth, 241–250 the fifth, and 201–224 together form the 48-hour Clinical Nutrition Certification (CNC). Two hours each.

1 · Gut, Microbiome, Digestion and Detoxification

Where nutrient status is decided and where systemic inflammation is won or lost — from the intro principles of micronutrients and absorption to the microbiome, the liver’s biotransformation pathways, the GI disease files, the gut/brain connection, functional GI testing, and digestive enzymes.

201: Introduction to Clinical Nutrition
205: Detoxification
207: Microbiota & the Musculoskeletal System
208: Detoxification II
213: Gastrointestinal Disease & Nutrition
214: An Integrative Approach to Gastrointestinal Disease II
221: The Gut/Brain Connection
225: Functional Medicine Testing for GI Disturbances
248: Maximizing Health Through Proper Digestion and Absorption
258: Oxidative Stress Detoxification — Better Responses to Chiropractic Care

2 · Brain, Mood, Stress and the Nervous System

Nutritional neurology — the headache patient, the stress physiology your patients carry through the door, the brain-game files on how food drives cognition, the nutrition-and-mood pair, the fatigued patient, memory and dementia, nervous-system function, chronic fatigue with myofascial pain, the concussion protocol, the maladaptive stress response, and the fatigue work-up.

203: Nutritional Management of Headaches
204: Chiropractic Nutrition for Stress Management
211: The Brain Game — How Nutrition Impacts Brain Function
212: The Brain Game II — How Food Impacts Brain Function
218: Nutrition and Mood
219: Nutrition and Mood II
228: Dealing with Fatigue in Clinical Practice
233: Memory, Dementia, and Chiropractic Care
234: Optimal Nervous System Function & Nutrition
237: Chronic Fatigue and Myofascial Pain Syndrome — an Integrative Approach
240: Nutritional Management of Concussions in a Clinical Setting
242: Maladaptive Stress Response & Musculoskeletal Disease
244: Managing the Fatigued Patient
247: Optimizing Nervous System Function with Nutrition
251: Autonomic Nervous System Regulation
253: Stress Management II
254: Stress I — How Managing Stress Leads to Better Patient Outcomes
263: Stress Update — Supporting Our Patients During Uncertain Times
264: Brain Game III — How Food Impacts Brain Function

3 · Musculoskeletal, Immune, Hormonal and Clinical Conditions

Nutritional management layered onto what you already treat — arthritic and autoimmune joints, neuropathy and neuropathic pain, immune resilience and the cold-and-flu season, lipids and cholesterol, antioxidants, endocrine disruptors, the thyroid and hormone-testing files, menopause and estrogen, vitamin D, sports injuries, diet and chronic disease, women’s musculoskeletal health, the pain files, the pediatric pair, osteoporosis, and the commonly seen conditions. You are here: Nutrition 255.

202: Nutritional Management of Arthritic Disease
206: Management of Neuropathy
209: Nutrition & the Immune System
210: The Fat Story & Cholesterol
215: Antioxidants in Health and Disease
216: Antioxidants in Health and Disease II
217: Endocrine Disruptors in Health & Disease
220: Management of Autoimmune Disorders — Rheumatoid Arthritis
222: Assessing Thyroid Health in Clinical Practice I
223: Assessing Hormones in Clinical Practice I
224: Assessing Hormones in Clinical Practice II
226: Women’s Health Issues — Focus on Menopause and Estrogen
227: Vitamin D & Musculoskeletal Health
229: Nutritional Management of Sports Injuries
230: A Primer on the Role of Diet and Chronic Disease
231: Women’s Health Issues and the Musculoskeletal System
232: An Integrative Approach to the Musculoskeletal System
235: Pediatric Nutrition & Chiropractic I
236: Pediatric Nutrition & Chiropractic II
238: Chiropractic and Osteoporosis
239: Treating Commonly Seen Conditions in Chiropractic Practice
241: Strengthen Your Immune and Musculoskeletal System through Nutrition and Chiropractic
243: Joint Pain & Inflammation
245: Natural Remedies for the Pain Patient
246: Keeping Healthy During Cold and Flu Season
249: New Strategies for Pain Management in the Chiropractic Setting
250: Neuropathic Pain Management
252: Special Topics in Nutrition
255: Autoimmune Disease II
256: Sports Injury Management in a Chiropractic Office
257: Bone Health
259: Path to Wellness
260: Nutrition and Musculoskeletal Health
261: Wellness and Chiropractic
262: Women’s Health and Nutrition
265: Neuropathy — Pathophysiology and Therapeutic Approaches
266: Comprehensive Approach for Treatment of Joints, Tendons and Ligaments
267: How Nutrition and Chiropractic Go Hand in Hand
269: Nutritional Management of Neuropathy

Every course in the series is 2 PACE-approved CE hours at $40, and the automatic bundle discounts apply across the whole lane. The full 68-course catalog continues on the Nutrition category page.

What You’ll Learn in Nutrition 255

Discuss the reasons for the rising prevalence of autoimmune disorders.

Understand the factors that contribute to immune dysfunction.

Discuss gut barrier dysfunction and its implications for autoimmune disease.

Address joint pain in the autoimmune patient and offer proper nutritional support and care.

Your Nutrition Faculty

Howard Benedikt, DC, DCBCN — instructor of this course. Board-certified chiropractic clinical nutritionist, Diplomate and President of the Chiropractic Board of Clinical Nutrition, with more than 30 years in clinical nutrition and functional medicine. He authors all 68 courses in the CCEDseminars Nutrition library and the Clinical Nutrition Certification (CNC) track at its core, and is known for translating complex nutritional biochemistry into practical, office-ready protocols — here, the oxidative-stress mechanism of neuropathic pain and the nutrients that address it.

Full bio and the complete instructor roster: CCEDseminars faculty page.

Where Nutrition CE Hours Count — State Rules Worth Knowing

Nutrition coursework is clinical subject matter — assessment, clinical reasoning and nutritional management of patient conditions — which is exactly what several state boards ask for. In Iowa, these hours serve the 36-hour clinical case-management minimum; in Rhode Island, they address the 50-of-60 clinical requirement; and in Vermont — where practice-building coursework earns nothing — patient-care education like this counts fully under the clinical-focus rule.

Online-format allowances still vary by state — some accept every hour online, others cap distance learning or require in-person blocks. Check your state’s guide in the full state directory before building your renewal plan.

Build Your Nutrition Block — or Take the Credential

Every course in the Nutrition series runs 2 hours at $40, so the automatic discounts do the bundling for you: 6–9 hours in one order earns 10% off, and 10 or more earns 20% off — any ten courses from the series is 20 hours, which clears the 20% tier at roughly $320 instead of $400, with no promo codes. Autoimmune Disease II pairs naturally with Nutrition 220 on rheumatoid arthritis and Nutrition 207 on the microbiota and the musculoskeletal system; the three together reach 6 hours and the 10% tier. Pursuing the credential? The Clinical Nutrition Certification (CNC) packages Nutrition 201–224 — 48 hours — in a single $960 checkout. Browse Nutrition Courses

Nutrition 255 — Frequently Asked Questions

What does Nutrition 255 cover?

Nutrition 255 covers autoimmune disease management through diet and nutrition for chiropractors: the reasons for the rising incidence of autoimmune disease, immune dysfunction, gut barrier dysfunction and its implications, and addressing joint pain in the autoimmune patient. Also known as the autoimmune nutrition course, the autoimmune diet course for chiropractors, or gut barrier dysfunction and autoimmunity.

What is the connection between the gut barrier and autoimmune disease?

A compromised intestinal barrier lets partially digested proteins and microbial products reach an immune system that then mistakes self-tissue for the intruder — one of the best-supported mechanisms behind rising autoimmunity. The course explains gut barrier dysfunction, what drives it, and the dietary and nutritional steps that restore barrier integrity as part of an autoimmune care plan.

Is there an autoimmune diet a chiropractor can recommend?

There is no single diet, but there are dietary principles with evidence — removing the foods that provoke a given patient, supporting the gut barrier and the microbiome, and controlling the inflammatory load — and the course lays them out as a framework a chiropractor can adapt patient by patient, alongside the joint-pain management the patient came in for.

How is this different from Nutrition 220, Management of Autoimmune Disorders — Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Nutrition 220 is the rheumatoid arthritis course — one autoimmune condition, managed in depth. Nutrition 255 is the broader second course: why autoimmunity is rising, immune and gut barrier dysfunction as shared mechanisms, and support strategies that apply across the autoimmune spectrum. Take 220 for RA specifically and 255 for the mechanism and the rest of the family.

How many CE hours is it, and where does it sit in the Nutrition series?

It is 2 PACE-approved CE hours. Nutrition 255 sits in the musculoskeletal, immune, hormonal and clinical-conditions lane of the Nutrition series with Dr. Howard Benedikt, alongside Nutrition 209 (Nutrition and the Immune System), 220 (Autoimmune Disorders — Rheumatoid Arthritis) and 241 (Strengthen Your Immune and Musculoskeletal System).

State Approval and Licensing Reminder

Continuing education requirements — including online-hour caps and clinical-hour minimums — vary by jurisdiction. Review the online chiropractic CE guidelines page and contact CCEDseminars with questions about your specific licensing requirements before registering.

Ready to Enroll in Nutrition 255?

The autoimmune patient with joint pain needs more than the adjustment and less than a shrug. Two hours here give you the immune and gut-barrier mechanisms and the dietary framework to offer proper support.

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CCEDseminars · PACE Provider #34015544 · Reviewed by Monte Horne, DC · Last updated September 2026 (CT)

This online chiropractic course is accredited in the following states:

Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District Of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming,

This online chiropractic course is accredited in the following Canadian Provinces:

British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Yukon,

This online chiropractic course is accredited in the following regions outside the United States & Canada:

Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Bolivia, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Greece, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Virgin Island, Zimbabwe,