Registered dietitian continuing education courses are required to maintain dietetic credentials.

What is Continuing Education for Dietitians?

Once you have become a registered dietitian, you need to obtain the number of continuing education units — also called CEUs — required by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR).

Each accredited course you successfully complete is worth a specified number of units.

How can I earn Continuing Education Units as a Dietitian?

As a Registered Dietitian, you must maintain your dietitian credentials by obtaining 75 continuing education units per five-year cycle (just 15 CEUs per year.) The Commission must approve these courses for Dietitian Registration.

Most dieticians enjoy attending educational seminars, meetings, webinars, workshops, conferences, and participating in self-study courses, so it should be reasonably easy to obtain the CEUs you need. Plus, many training programs are available as online classes make it easier and more convenient than ever to meet this requirement.

Categories of CEUs

The categories of continuing education units include anything related to health, including:

Ethics for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (Registered dietitians must complete a minimum of 1 CEU per five-year cycle.)
Weight management
Healthy foods
Intermittent fasting
General nutrition
Type 2 diabetes
Gut Health
Sports nutrition
Women’s health

Why Do I Need Continuing Education Classes?

Continuing education courses help:

Increase your professional knowledge of dietetic topics and best practices, helping you be a better dietitian.
Keep you informed of the latest health science. There are always new courses created to cover the latest health-related developments.
Assist you with career goal setting

POSTBiotics: The First Accredited CEU Course for Registered Dietitians!

Take gut health, for instance.

In the past few decades, scientists have discovered that gut health is crucial for overall mental, emotional, and physical health.

You see, trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms reside in the gut. They are essential for proper digestion and nutrient absorption, of course, but research shows they also participate in bidirectional communication with the brain via the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve is the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system, extending from the brain stem to the abdomen with branches that touch the heart, lungs, stomach, digestive tract, liver, kidneys, and spleen. Thus, the vagus nerve helps regulate critical aspects of the body, including the heart rate, blood pressure, sweating, digestion, and even speaking.

If you have poor gut health, your brain and other organs are aware of it, and vice versa. So when scientists discovered the importance of the gut for overall health, they were astounded. Based on this research, they started creating supplements to support gut health.

Registered Dietitians and Gut Health

While many Registered Dietitians are familiar with taking probiotic and prebiotic supplements for gut health, most are unfamiliar with POSTBiotics’ critical role in the body despite emerging science proving them far more essential for gut and immune health. Indeed, many health experts believe that POSTBiotics are responsible for the health benefits attributed to fiber and probiotics.
POSTbiotics are essentially the “waste” products of prebiotics (resistant fiber) and probiotics. Because beneficial bacteria excrete them after eating (fermenting) resistant fiber, this was the ONLY way to create and benefit from the health benefits of POSTBiotics — until recently.

Now, postbiotics can be taken in supplement form, thereby directly providing gut-healing benefits.

To date, there are thousands of different types of POSTBiotic metabolites, all with unique health properties. Research suggests that short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) constitute a significant class of metabolites produced by bacterial fermentation of dietary fiber in the colon.

The main SCFAs are acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Of these three, research suggests that Butyrate provides the most health benefits. Harvard calls it the “optimal” short-chain fatty acid because Butyrate is more potent and provides more health benefits than other short-chain fatty acids (SCFA).

POSTBiotics CEU Course

Now live online, the accredited SANE POSTBiotics Continuing Education Course will provide an overview for Registered Dietitians on POSTBiotics focusing on Butyrate and its health benefits. Recent clinical research studies suggest that Butyrate:

Supports digestive and gastrointestinal health, reducing painful gas and bloating (3)
Reduces intestinal inflammation, which can ease symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (4)
Supports immune health (5)
Soothes inflammation (6)
Improves brain function (7)
Promotes weight loss/weight maintenance by boosting metabolism and increasing insulin sensitivity (8)

In this continuing education course, Registered Dietitians will take an in-depth look into the field of POSTBiotics and Butyrate, learn of the incredible scientifically-backed health benefits, and earn 2.75 CPE units upon successful completion.

Click here to register today!

References

1- https://admin.cdrnet.org/vault/2459/web///CDR_PDP_Guide_2026_v3.1.pdf
2- https://www.cdrnet.org/ethics
3- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24868283/
4- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10483900/
5- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4816278/
6- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24868283/
7- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304394016300775
8- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19366864/