Care for the person living with cancer.

What is naturopathic oncology?

Naturopathic oncology brings individualized naturopathic care into the broader cancer care plan. It considers supportive treatment options alongside conventional oncology, with attention to symptoms, nutrition, other health concerns, and life after treatment.

Start with your complete picture.

Understanding your care begins with understanding you. Assessment includes your diagnosis, previous and current treatments, relevant pathology, imaging, and laboratory findings. We also consider your medications and supplements, nutrition, sleep, daily functioning, and what matters most to you.

Additional testing may be considered where appropriate. Findings are interpreted in context, alongside your established oncology assessment.

Understand your options.

You deserve time to discuss what is being recommended and why. We work through the purpose of each proposed therapy, the available evidence, potential benefits, risks, interactions, and alternatives. Where knowledge is limited or a treatment is experimental, that uncertainty belongs in the conversation.

Your preferences and circumstances help shape the plan.

Support throughout treatment.

During cancer treatment, your needs can change. Integrative care may address symptoms, treatment side effects, nutritional concerns, and other health conditions. Recommendations are reviewed in the context of your oncology treatment, with attention to compatibility and communication between providers.

A plan that evolves with you.

Care is an ongoing process of assessment, discussion, and adjustment. As your treatment, symptoms, or priorities change, we revisit the plan together. Your experience matters alongside clinical findings.

After treatment: recovery and long-term health.

Completing treatment marks another phase of care. Post-treatment support focuses on recovery, lingering side effects, nutrition, lifestyle, and longer-term health priorities. Appropriate surveillance and screening remain part of a coordinated follow-up plan with your cancer care team.

Working with your care team.

Communication helps connect the different parts of your care. With your permission, relevant assessments and recommendations can be shared with your oncologist, primary care provider, and other treating professionals.

Principles of care.

This guide draws on the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians’ Principles of Care Guidelines, published in Current Oncology in 2019. The paper describes a framework for assessment, informed consent, coordination, and survivorship care. Evidence for individual treatments requires separate evaluation.

Marsden E, Nigh G, Birdsall S, Wright H, Traub M. Current Oncology. 2019;26(1):12–18. View the publication ↗ · Read the paper (PDF) ↗