This course...
is: an online live course
is for: nutritional therapy practitioners, nutritionists, dieticians, naturopaths, other health care providers and final year nutrition students interested in applying functional medicine approaches to health and well-being (i.e. exploring how nutrients, other foods and lifestyle factors influence the function of the body and how to apply findings in a person–centred manner that recognises individuals’ unique differences)
is led by: Robyn Puglia
spans: 2 afternoons, 2 weeks apart.
provides: ION CPD 5 hours, BANT CPD 5 hours, NNA CPD 5 hours (over 2 afternoons)
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This course builds a clear, clinically grounded understanding of inflammation as a staged process, introduces immunomodulation as a more precise and upstream way of working, and looks at the central role oxidative stress plays in driving and maintaining immune dysfunction. Practitioners leave with a practical framework for choosing botanical and nutraceutical tools that work with the immune system rather than against it, and the confidence to apply this across their most complex cases.
Inflammation isn't just a switch to turn off and suppression is rarely the whole answer. Inflammation is a necessary, precisely coordinated biological defense mechanism, not simply a switch to turn off. Yet much of the clinical and public facing conversation around autoimmunity and chronic inflammation continues to frame it in binary terms: inflammation is bad, and suppression is the goal “it’s anti-inflammatory”.
This course challenges that framing. It builds a clinically actionable understanding of inflammation as a multi-stage process, each stage representing a distinct point of clinical leverage, and positions immunomodulation as the more precise, upstream, and ultimately more effective clinical strategy.
Practitioners working in autoimmunity and chronic inflammatory disease frequently face a tension between the tools they have available and the complexity of the cases in front of them. Selecting nutraceuticals and botanicals without a clear mechanistic rationale, or defaulting to suppressive approaches when more upstream options exist, limits the effectiveness of even well-designed programmes. This course is designed to give practitioners the mechanistic framework and clinical confidence to choose immunomodulatory tools that multitask across multiple pathways. They work with the immune system rather than against it, and that are appropriate to the individual’s specific inflammatory landscape rather than the diagnosis alone.
This course opens with a focused revision of inflammation as a staged immunological process. From innate activation through to adaptive recruitment, amplification and resolution, with attention to the clinical levers available at each stage.
It then introduces the principles of immunomodulation, what it means to work upstream rather than suppress, how to assess the inflammatory landscape before selecting tools and why choosing interventions that act on multiple points of the cascade offers genuine clinical advantage.
The role of oxidative stress as both a driver and a consequence of immune dysregulation is addressed in depth, including how reactive oxygen species, redox imbalance, and post-translational protein modification contribute to the initiation and perpetuation of autoimmunity.
Key questions the course will answer include:
- Why do botanicals and nutraceuticals often outperform single-target drugs in complex immune presentations;
- Which immunomodulatory tools multitask across antigen burden, barrier integrity, and T cell regulation;
- When is antioxidant supplementation clinically indicated, and when might high-dose provision be counterproductive; and
- How do you build a nutraceutical programme for someone already on prescription immunosuppressants.
The course closes by applying all of this to real world clinical decision making and coherent programme design.
By the end of the course, you will be able to
• Describe the four-stage inflammatory process and identify the clinical levers available at each stage, from innate activation through to resolution, moving beyond the binary of suppress or leave alone
• Apply a systematic framework for selecting immunomodulatory nutraceuticals and botanicals based on each individual client's inflammatory landscape, rather than by diagnosis alone
• Explain the relationship between oxidative stress, reactive oxygen species, redox balance, and immune dysregulation, including the role of post-translational protein modification in the initiation of autoimmunity
• Choose and dose key immunomodulatory tools including curcumin, quercetin, Chinese skullcap (Baicalin), garlic, green tea (EGCG), and alpha lipoic acid, with greater clinical precision and awareness of contraindications
• Design antioxidant support strategies that prioritise dietary and endogenous systems, with appropriate targeted supplementation layered over the top, and avoid the clinical pitfalls associated with excessive antioxidant provision
• Recognise when a client's case has moved beyond the remit of functional nutritional support alone, and navigate those conversations with clarity and clinical confidence
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About the presenter:
Robyn Puglia FdSc DipION FellowION IFMCP CFN-S is a Clinical Nutritional Therapist and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner specialising in autoimmune disease, immune dysfunction, and environmental illness including mould-related conditions and CIRS. In clinical practice since 2009, she works with some of the most complex cases in this area: poly-autoimmunity, post-viral immune dysregulation, and multi-system inflammatory presentations.
Robyn is Founder of The Autoimmune Academy, an education and community platform for practitioners navigating autoimmune complexity in clinical practice.
She serves as Head of Practitioner Education at Cyrex Laboratories, a role she has held since 2013, and sits on the faculty at the Academy of Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine, where she delivers the autoimmune and immunology teaching modules, and at the University of Northampton.
She is also a Fellow of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition
- Session 3 | Immunomodulatory Tools in Clinical Practice
- Session 4 | : Oxidative Stress, Antioxidants, and Clinical Application
Robyn is a Clinical Nutritional Therapist and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner specialising in autoimmune disease, immune dysfunction, and environmental illness including mould-related conditions and CIRS. In clinical practice since 2009, she works with some of the most complex cases in this area: poly-autoimmunity, post-viral immune dysregulation, and multi-system inflammatory presentations.
Robyn is Founder of The Autoimmune Academy, an education and community platform for practitioners navigating autoimmune complexity in clinical practice.
She serves as Head of Practitioner Education at Cyrex Laboratories, a role she has held since 2013, and sits on the faculty at the Academy of Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine, where she delivers the autoimmune and immunology teaching modules, and at the University of Northampton.
She is also a Fellow of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition
