About this course list

aasdn-education.org is the public course list of the American Academy of Sports Dietitians and Nutritionists (AASDN). It is a continuing-education catalog for people who already work with clients: personal trainers, group fitness instructors, coaches, and other health-fitness professionals. The online lessons are delivered by Fitness Learning Systems, which is named on every page of this catalog as the system that powers the courses.

The list currently contains one course, The Science of Nutrition. The course builds a working understanding of science-based nutrition so a professional can tell a study apart from a slogan, and can talk with clients about food without passing along misinformation. It is written at an intermediate to advanced level. No earlier course is required.

The academy states the purpose of the course directly. Clients ask about nutrition more often than they used to. The course description notes that the share of consumers who actively seek information about nutrition and healthful eating rose from 19 percent in 2000 to 46 percent in 2011. Fitness professionals are expected to answer those questions carefully, and to stay inside the guidance of organizations such as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This site exists so that a professional can read the course outline, the credit list, and a set of short background guides before deciding whether to enroll.

What this website is, and what it is not

The pages here are the course listing, the policies for continuing education, the technical requirements for viewing a lesson, and six short reading guides that introduce the same topics the course teaches. Those guides are background. They are not the course, and finishing them does not earn credit.

This website is not a clinic. It does not diagnose, prescribe a diet, or replace a registered dietitian or a physician. It does not sell supplements. Payment and enrollment are not taken on these pages. Customer service handles both, by phone, at the numbers in the footer.

An older version of this catalog linked to a member login and a registration form. That membership application is not running on this site. If you already have a subscription, or if you want to start one, use the contact page.

How the course is organized

The Science of Nutrition starts with the biology a trainer needs in order to talk about food: cells and tissues, digestion and absorption, and the vascular and lymphatic systems that move nutrients. It then defines calories and the energy nutrients, and the words metabolism, anabolism, catabolism, and homeostasis. Later lessons cover dietary guidelines, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, water, and the two classes of micronutrients, vitamins and minerals. The last section is how the body produces energy and how intake is timed around training.

A quiz must be completed before continuing-education credit is reported. Hours and the organizations that have been listed with the course are on the continuing education page. Confirm current acceptance with your own certifying organization. Provider status changes, and a list published with a course is not a promise that every board still accepts it.

Read the nutrition guides for a plain-language start, then open the course page if you want the full outline and the price.