Systemic Inflammation, Food Intolerance, and Autoimmunity
Learn how to identify and treat systemic food intolerance. Get equipped with nutritional, herbal, and lifestyle recommendations for addressing autoimmune disease.
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Meet your course instructor
Paul Bergner | Medical Herbalist
Paul Bergner has studied and practiced natural medicine, medical herbalism, and nutrition since 1973. He is the Director of the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism in Portland, OR, and has supervised residents in teaching clinics for medical herbalism and clinical nutrition continuously since 1996. Mentoring more than 250 clinical graduates, he has published and edited the Medical Herbalism journal since 1989. Paul has authored seven books on medical herbalism, clinical nutrition, ethnobotany, and naturopathic medicine. Combining information from both nutritional anthropology and biomedicine, he developed a successful protocol for treating insulin resistance between 1997 and 1999, and has been utilizing and teaching the protocol to residents in his teaching clinics since that time. He has lectured on this topic at professional conferences nationally and internationally since 2000.
Course description
Did you know that there’s a connection between the immunological response in the gut and various systemic manifestations of disease? This seminar will describe current scientific concepts of digestion, immunity, and autoimmunity to explain this connection. Paul Bergner, the Director of the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism in Portland, teaches this in-depth course which will help you make healthy lifestyle choices. Paul reviews nutrition, herbal materia medica, and formulation strategies to help support the body’s healing of inflammation; a condition we all live with at some point.
After taking this course, you’ll be able to assess and coach a patient (or yourself) using interview and observational skills taught by Paul. Foods that evoke an immunological inflammatory response are nearly universal in modern chronic disease. The removal of these food antigens can allow symptoms of diseases to simply fall away—even serious ones! The material for this course has been developed over a period of over twenty years, and delivered in various formats to hundreds of intermediate and advanced students of herbalism, nutrition, and naturopathic medicine as part of pre-clinical training.
You will learn about:
- Methods that will successfully help with serious chronic illnesses such as autoimmune conditions, neurological problems, cardiovascular inflammation, kidney failure, mental disorders, and more
- The basic science of how nutrients affect inflammation and tissue integrity
- The “dotted line” between inflammation in the gastrointestinal system and the overall system
- The exact immune components and mechanisms which are responsible for the escalation of gut inflammation to systemic inflammation
- Interview techniques and assessment methods to evaluate a client for food intolerances
- The unreliability of the common lab tests for food intolerance
- How to coach a patient through the elimination of suspected offending foods including PDF forms that the instructor uses with his own patients
- A complete herbal materia medica of anti-inflammatory herbs
- A herbal materia medica and formulation guidance for healing “leaky gut syndrome”
* Includes immediately usable PDF assessment forms used by the instructor with his own patients

Lesson plan
Students are saying…
“It was a great course! The content interested me and I wanted to learn more about how food affects the body. I enjoyed the material a lot and will definitely take more courses.”
“Excellent and incredibly useful. The videos were well-filmed, with quality sound and a motivating pace and style. Paul was a clear communicator, seemingly very happy to share his vast experience and knowledge.”
“I really feel this is an essential building block towards anyone who wishes to sustain a healthy body. I am grateful to have some new tools to use towards my healing process, as well as a refreshing new perspective to help motivate me along the way. Everything tied together nicely. Thank you so much, Paul and team!!!”
“Excellent course, not just for the practitioner but for everyone!”
“I loved this course! Paul was a great instructor—very knowledgeable. Very professional course, well-sectioned, and useful information, especially learning about leaky gut and why vitamin D is essential in protecting the gut lining.“
“I’m an acupuncturist and nutritionist and Paul explained things in a very clear way that I didn’t know certain things until watching this course. I wish I could have him as a teacher, he was great.”
“Comprehensive, in-depth explanations. A trove of information! From nutritional science, introduction of herbal remedies to how food intolerances affect us physiologically. I began this course with questions. Now I have answers and, perhaps even more importantly, solutions!”
“Super informative and makes me want to take more classes.”
“Incredible course. Gave me so much insight, and I had so many aha moments with my health! The videos were broken down into smaller chunks, and easier to retain the information and stay focused. I am considering the herbalism program and wanted to try a course before signing up, and I loved it. Highly recommend.”
“I am studying nutrition and found the herbal medicine aspects of this course to be very useful. Paul’s teachings are high quality, the information is explained in a way that is easy to understand, and I would recommend this course!”
“As a student in holistic nutrition, I found this course to be well delivered, very professional, clear, and easy to understand. Everything was beyond my expectation, and anyone suffering from a food intolerance would find this course beneficial.”
“I took this course to grow my current knowledge as a health professional, and thank Paul for presenting the information in an exciting and interesting way! The videos and supporting notes were great, and I highly recommend this course to other health practitioners!”
“Excellent and easy to follow as a non-practitioner. My husband has been dealing with a leaky gut in addition to skin cancer over the past year. There have already been positive changes to my husband’s skin and the elimination is bringing positive effects to his well being.”
“I had been in full time practice for well over 20 years when I first came across Paul’s works and I count their solid, practical, experience and tradition based wisdom as amongst the very best of the courses and materials I have found in a life-time of study.”
“It was one of the best courses I have taken. Exceeded my expectations. The videos were high quality and the knowledge from Paul was exceptional, taught in a frank and clear to understand manner. Paul is truly a great teacher. Perfect for all herbalists and those curious about alternative medicine at any stage of their career. ”
“I was impressed with this course and didn’t know what to expect going into it. I would take other courses of this kind in the future. The instructor was a great teacher of the material and his experience showed.”
“I have already applied the knowledge for myself and my clients with astounding results. This has taken my practice to a new level with my clients with chronic conditions.””
“A+. I am a Holistic Nutritionist with a strong desire to work with clients in restoring their gut health, reducing inflammation and healing their lives. The material was thorough and to the point. I don’t have a lot of extra time in a day so I really appreciated spending it getting straight to the good stuff.”
“The course was excellent, thorough and the speaker made the subject easy to understand and clarified many myths about food intolerances. One of the best and most useful courses I have taken.”
“This course was a great starting point. It illuminated the causes behind the autoimmune issues I’ve been struggling with my whole life. I will continue to delve deeper into the concepts that were introduced to me in this course.”
“My favourite parts were molecular mimicry and autoimmune issues, herbal remedies. Everyone needs to take this course.”
“I enjoyed the course material a lot. It definitely met and somewhat exceeded my expectations and hopes for the course. I loved this course. It was very informative and easy to understand. Thank you.”
“Excellent. Registered due to my own issues with autoimmunity. Highly recommend.”
“Fantastic course, fantastic resources, brilliant accompaniment to Gillian’s Chinese Diet Therapy Course. Getting a nutrition health perspective from both of these angles has been of extreme value.”
“As someone without a background in nutrition science, I found Paul’s instruction accessible and compelling. Paul’s case studies and anecdotes helped me to contextualize some of the more science-heavy aspects of the material.”
“Paul shares his knowledge, insights and experiences in a down-to-earth way that I really appreciated. He’s also very generous in sharing articles he’s written and other resources that I look forward to delving into.”
Please note, this elective course is for PRC Campus students only.