Nutrition is the cornerstone of good health. A healthy diet can contribute to the prevention of a wide range of health conditions, including heart disease, cancer and diabetes mellitus, the three leading disease-related causes of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Nutritional treatment may be as simple as increasing or eliminating certain foods in the diet, or may require the prescription of specific nutrients or nutritional supplements (orthomolecular medicine). It may be the primary element of an individualized treatment plan, or included as an adjunctive treatment to optimize the benefit of another therapy (e.g., use of anti-inflammatory nutritional supplements to support an acupuncture protocol for patients having pain).
The scientific support for the benefit of nutritional interventions in prevention and treatment of illness has been verified in thousands of research studies, including recent studies (in an area called nutrigenomics) demonstrating that dietary change can prevent disease on a genetic level (disease-causing genes can be "turned off" by use of the appropriate nutrients).
Naturopathic doctors address a variety of health concerns by conducting nutritional analysis, evaluating digestive health, developing personal dietary plans, implementing detoxification programs or recommending specific nutritional supplements.
We stock only the highest quality nutritional supplements in our professional dispensary. Nutritional treatment (not including cost of dispensary items) provided at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is covered by most extended healthcare plans.