Food Therapy

What is Food Therapy?

Under Traditional Chinese Medicine, food can be categorised into its four 'natures' (cold, cool, warm, hot) and five 'flavours' (sweet, bitter, sour, spicy, salty). Due to these characteristics, food is considered similar to herbal medicine, where both are believed to help regulate bodily functions and restore balance within the body. A good understanding of our body constitution and consuming food items with the appropriate 'nature' and 'flavour' may help in promoting our overall health. Complementing food therapy with conventional cancer treatment can also relieve certain side effects of the treatment.

Food items like red dates, wolfberry and white fungus are typically used in food therapy and these usually do not cause negative side effects when consumed. Adverse interaction with cancer treatment is also low since the amount of these food items used for food therapy is not much. Patients can easily incorporate food therapy into their daily lifestyle as it safely complements conventional cancer treatement.

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If you would like to learn more about how Integrative Oncology may help in your cancer journey, please consult your primary physician for a referral to our NCCS Integrative Oncology Clinic.