CPD VOD | Cancer: Nutritional support before, during and after treatment and beyond - Day 1
DAY 1 OF 3
Safe, practical and evidence-informed nutritional support for people affected by cancer may enhance the effectiveness of medical treatments and reduce side effects; reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and improve overall wellbeing.
Personalised medicine approaches are playing an increasingly important role in cancer prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutics. Health practitioners now working in this field need to understand both ‘mainstay’ treatment options i.e. chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery as well as newer biological and immunotherapy drug regimens when developing their recommendations. Practitioners also need to understand related terminology and how to effectively communicate and collaborate with medical teams within this new paradigm.
ION’s updated three day course aims to help practitioners gain confidence across a range of cancers by setting a foundation for further understanding and exploration. Specific cases will be used to illustrate common treatment regimens for colorectal, breast, ovarian and lung cancer cases and melanoma cases and appropriate nutritional support alongside these.
- Overview of cancer as a group of diseases: What do current incidence and prevalence data tell us?
- Cancer pathophysiology: Understanding genetic factors, inherited and acquired mutations, epigenetic modifications, changes in cell behaviour and tissues changes
- Consolidation of learning with individual exercise
- Understanding stem cell theory, tumour metabolic reprogramming, and tumour stages to metastasis.
- The response of the immune system in malignancy
- Modifiable factors in the cancer process – nutrition, exercise, environmental exposures
- Consolidation of learning with individual exercise
- Understanding the Patient’s Journey. Diagnosis, staging and grading. Testing for markers and treatment choices.
- Overview of traditional treatment modalities – chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy
- Principle of targeted drug treatments: targets within hormonal pathways and growth factor targets
- Principles of immunotherapies: Key immune system targets
- Medical perspectives on complementary and ‘alternative’ treatments during cancer treatment and appropriate framing of integrative cancer care. The benefits of a whole person approach for people affected by cancer.
Carol is a chartered biologist with a degree in biochemistry and a Master’s in microbiology, and training in herbal medicine. She has worked in various healthcare roles throughout her career before choosing to retrain in nutritional therapy; including microbiology research, clinical diagnostics, medical technology and human tissue banking. Carol is an independent contributor to research within the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) collaboration on nutrition and cancer. She acts as a consultant to Penny Brohn UK, a leading charity providing the whole person approach to supporting people affected by cancer. Carol is also consultant nutritionist to a collaboration with leading oncologists who recognise the importance of nutrition for people with a cancer diagnosis.
Carol is a director of the British Society for Integrative Oncology (BSIO) and is Co-Chair and trustee of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine (RCCM). She teaches on several nutritional therapy courses at degree and Master’s level, and for 10 years was the Chair of NTEC, the accreditation body for training in nutritional therapy.
