What Everyone Gets Wrong About ‘Natural’ Cancer Treatment
It's not either/or, but rather both/and
When I told people I had breast cancer, the advice started immediately. Take turmeric. No, don’t take turmeric - it interferes with chemo. Megadose vitamin C. Actually, vitamin C feeds tumors. Go vegetarian. No, go keto. One friend sent me a link to a celebrity interview: she’d “cured her cancer with supplements.”
I wanted to scream: How am I supposed to know what’s real?
That’s why I brought Dr. Lise Alschuler onto the podcast. She’s a naturopathic doctor board-certified in naturopathic oncology (yes, that’s a thing), a breast cancer survivor herself, and she’s spent three decades helping patients navigate exactly this minefield.
Section 1: The Question Behind the Question
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” Dr. Alschuler said when I asked how to spot snake oil.
But she also said something that surprised me: The loved ones are often the ones pushing supplements, not the patients themselves.
Think about it. You’re diagnosed. You’re shell-shocked, barely processing what your oncologist is telling you about treatment timelines and side effects. Meanwhile, your sister is Googling frantically, your best friend is forwarding testimonials, and your mother-in-law is ordering you CBD oil from a website she found.
They mean well. They’re terrified. They want to do something.
Dr. Alschuler’s advice: “Use your own intuition. If you read about something that sounds legitimate - it’s talking about your type of cancer, your stage, your treatment - then vet it with a qualified healthcare practitioner.”
Where to find those practitioners? She recommends:
Naturopathic oncologists: ONCANP.org (board-certified specialists)
Naturopathic doctors: naturopathic.org
Integrative oncology centers: Many hospitals now have them
The key question to ask any provider who says “don’t do it”: Why not? Make them explain the rationale. “Don’t do it” isn’t good enough.
Section 2: The Tumor Microenvironment (The Mindblown Concept)
Conventional treatments - chemotherapy, surgery, radiation - are very good at killing cancer cells. That’s what they’re designed to do. Your oncologist knows how to wield these tools expertly.
But those treatments don’t address the factors in your body that allowed the tumor to grow in the first place.
Tumors can’t grow in isolation. They co-opt the tissue around them, creating what’s called a tumor microenvironment - characterized by inflammation, compromised immune function, blood vessel growth to feed the tumor. And here’s the kicker: conventional treatments often make that environment worse. Chemo is inflammatory. Radiation is inflammatory.
“The natural therapies - supplements, diet, mindfulness - change that tumor microenvironment,” Dr. Alschuler explained. “They make the body less hospitable to cancer growth.”
This is why the “either/or” thinking is wrong.
Relying only on conventional treatment means you’re killing the tumor but leaving the environment that grew it intact. Relying only on natural therapies means you’re betting that improving your internal environment will be enough to kill an established tumor - and unfortunately, tumors are very good at hiding from even a strong immune system.
“Ideally, everybody with cancer should have both a strong anti-tumor therapy and a comprehensive anti-tumor microenvironment therapy,” she said.
Not either/or. Both/and.
Section 3: The Money Conversation Nobody Wants to Have
How do people afford integrative care when insurance rarely covers it?
“This is a problem,” she said. “I’m just gonna be transparent about this.”
Naturopathic visits, supplements, IV treatments - they add up. People can spend anywhere from a few dollars a day to hundreds of dollars a week, depending on their regimen. Meanwhile, they’re often unable to work, and facing mounting conventional treatment bills even with insurance.
Financial toxicity is real. Dr. Alschuler has seen patients rack up crushing debt - both from conventional treatment costs and from spending exorbitantly on supplements and specialized clinics.
Her advice: Have the conversation early.
“If you’re on a budget and you’re getting close to exceeding it, let your integrative provider know. Chances are there are less effective but still effective alternatives that won’t cost as much.”
She used this metaphor: “Maybe you’re gonna have to get the compact car, which will still get you where you need to go. Just not gonna be as easy and as luxurious as the luxury vehicle.”
I’ll add this: When people ask what they can do to help during cancer treatment, you don’t need casseroles or stuffed animals. Consider asking them to contribute to a treatment fund - whether conventional or integrative. Break the need into small pieces. One person covers supplements for March. Another covers acupuncture sessions. Small acts, collectively powerful.
Section 4: What Actually Works for Prevention
What should people do to lower recurrence risk? She answered by sharing what she would take on a deserted island:
Exercise. Find your edge of fitness and stay there. As you get stronger, that edge moves - keep challenging yourself.
Stress management. Stress “literally unravels our immune defenses.” You can’t always control stressors, but you can control how you manage them - through mindfulness, creativity, whatever works for you.
Plant-based, whole-foods diet. Not necessarily vegetarian, just lots of plant foods, minimally processed. “That’s the bottom line. You’re 80% there.”
Targeted supplements. They work differently than diet - “like the tines of a fork, getting into the biochemical nooks and crannies.”
Minimize environmental toxins. You can’t control everything, but you have agency over your home environment.
Nothing takes risk to zero. But cumulatively, synergistically, these approaches lower it.
Elle MacPherson claimed she “cured her cancer with supplements.” She’d actually had two lumpectomies first. She mentioned that in her interview, but neither she nor the reporter paused to reflect that surgery removed her cancer. Supplements may be making her body an inhospitable tumor microenvironment.
“If there was a cure for cancer from supplements and diet, people like me would be very wealthy, very busy individuals.”
There isn’t a magic bullet. But there is a comprehensive approach that addresses both the tumor itself and the environment that allowed it to grow.
You don’t have to choose between your oncologist and natural therapies. You need both.