The
Gerson Therapy
, by Charlotte Gerson and Morton Walker,
DPM (2001)
NY: Kensington Publishing Corp. ISBN 1-57566-628-6 (Trade paperback, 371 pages,
plus appendixes and index.)
It has been said that more people live off cancer than die from it. The Gerson
Therapy is a book that can put a stop to this travesty. Here is a very practical,
highly detailed guide to the intensive nutritional treatment of cancer and
other life-threatening diseases that many would consider to have been impossible
to obtain. But thanks to the work of Max Gerson, M.D., and his daughter, author
Charlotte Gerson, this knowledge is readily available for all who need it.
Max Gerson cured cancer. He did so with a strict fat-free, salt-free, low-protein,
essentially vegetarian dietary regimen, based on great quantities of fresh
vegetable juice, supplements, and systemic detoxification. Ms. Gerson explains:
“Dr. Gerson found that the underlying problems of all cancer patients are
toxicity and deficiency. He had to overcome both these difficulties. He found
that one of the important features of his therapy had to be the hourly administration
of fresh vegetable juices. These supply ample nutrients, as well as fluids to
help flush out the kidneys. When the high levels of nutrients re-enter tissues,
toxins accumulated over many years are forced into the blood stream. The toxins
are then filtered out by the liver. The liver is easily overburdened by the continuous
release of toxins and is unable to release the load… Dr. Gerson found that
he could provide help to the liver by the caffeine in coffee, absorbed from the
colon via the hemorrhoidal vein, which carries the caffeine to the portal system
and then to the liver. The caffeine stimulates the liver/bile ducts to open,
releasing the poisons into the intestinal tract for excretion.”
The Gerson Therapy book consists of nearly 400 pages of treatment specifics,
instruction, hints, cautions, recipes, case histories, and references, all
held together with an authority that only experience can bring. Some of the
blunt, uncompromising statements Ms. Gerson makes are certain to get up the
medical profession’s collective nose. Too bad for them, for she is right.
Charlotte Gerson’s entire life has been immersed in healing people, first
learning while assisting her father, and later teaching his method to the world.
Co-author Dr. Morton Walker is one of my favorite medical writers, and putting
these two talents together in The Gerson Therapy was a master stroke.
I personally have seen what the Gerson program can do for a terminally ill
cancer patient. I have been called upon to help in a couple of high-profile
but last minute cases. One patient was a well-known sports figure. He was given
some months to live and was not happy about it, as he was still in his 50’s.
He asked what his best shot would be for inoperable, untreatable metastasized
cancer. I told him: the Gerson therapy. He did it, not in its entirety, but
with enthusiasm. And, he lived considerably longer that he was expected to.
But what really impressed me was the dramatic improvement in his energy level.
From fatigue and weakness, he went instantly to a vibrant life, commencing
from the very week he started the program. He maintained a more-than-full schedule
for so long that even people who knew he was sick forgot that he was sick.
Years later, people that never knew of my involvement in the matter would bring
up his name, invariably recalling how active he was and how good he looked
until, almost as a surprise, he died.
I saw a similar level of success with a prominent New York businessman, the
owner of a chain of stores and afflicted with untreatable liver cancer. He
began to do much, but by no means all, of the Gerson program, and was subsequently
able to extensively travel the world with his family. He lived years longer
than expected, with a high quality of life confirmed by all who saw him.
Looking only at these two patients, wanton critics of Gerson’s method
might think that, without complete and unequivocal cure, there is little to
crow about. Such a view is unproductive, for neither of these patients followed
the Gerson program completely. It is a tough sell, even to a person with a
terminal diagnosis.
Why is this?
Ignorance and arrogance make a bad combination, and “modern” medicine
has been guilty of both for decades. Political physicians did not heed Dr.
Gerson. In fact, they publicly condemned him. The news media have been their
willing accomplices. The misinformation they spew to this day is fraught with
fabricated frights of natural therapies, while in the same breath they spew
forth the wonders of pharmaceutical drugs. When is the last time you saw a
favorable mention of the Gerson program in the newspaper or on TV? Since pharmacological
doctors have no sure-fire cure for cancer (an understatement if there ever
was one), they might at least back a winning horse. The Gerson approach has
been shown, for over six decades, to significantly improve both quality of
life and length of life in the sickest, the most hopeless, of cancer patients.
Many people have been completely cured on the Gerson therapy.
And the directions are in this book, which costs $17.
I am especially pleased with the open-minded spirit of cooperation which I
detect in reading The Gerson Therapy. The authors’ awareness of the realities
of individual patient needs is well demonstrated with the inclusion of chapter
sections discussing unavoidable modifications of the program. Instructions
for home self-care, for patients undergoing chemotherapy, and for the treatment
of very advanced cases, are all provided. Chapter 17, discussing treatment
of illnesses other than cancer, needs to be greatly expanded. Ms. Gerson informs
me that she is currently “preparing a booklet for each disease (including,
among others) asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, diabetes, drug addiction,
Crohn's disease, and fibromyalgia. They will start with a general description
of the disease, then have a basic outline of how the Gerson therapy deals with
it, then the specific description of the Therapy, followed by some dozen of
recovered cases... I think each booklet will contain some 30-40 pages.” I
am looking forward to their early publication. (Update, April 2002: Individual
booklets about cancer of the breast, ovaries, liver/pancreas/colon, lymphoma
and melanoma are now available for purchase from Charlotte Gerson, 355 Greenwood
Place, Bonita, CA 91902. Email Lotte@CharlotteGerson.com )
The present book contains explicit instructions for the administration of the
Therapy’s controversial but nonetheless crucial liver-detoxifying coffee
enemas. (Yes, at body temperature.) The use of castor oil, a thorough listing
of which foods to eat (and not eat), how to juice, psychological aspects of
therapy, and generally favorable mentions of megadose vitamin C supplementation
are also presented. The concise chapter (Chapter 6) on melanoma is extraordinary,
easily the best I have read anywhere.
Dosage and rationale for the supplements Dr. Gerson prescribed is the focus
of Chapter 11. Potassium, iodine, digestive enzymes, niacin and (by prescription)
thyroid, liver extract and vitamin B-12 injections are all covered. Both this
chapter, and the “Resources” section of the Appendix, are free
of any attempt to market such products, a feature I wish to highlight for special
praise.
I liked the inclusion of references at the end of each chapter, and the thoroughness
of devoting a chapter to appropriate laboratory tests. And everyone will enjoy
reading the success stories in Chapter 21.
In the next edition of The Gerson Therapy, I would like to see detailed charts
that summarize exactly what a “Gerson Person” needs to do each
day. I recall how helpful such charts were in this book’s predecessor,
A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases. My experience in working with very
sick patients and their families is that they are easily overwhelmed with instruction,
no matter how vital that instruction may be. Easy-to-read personal itineraries
are virtually essential to ensure intelligent compliance with a complex nutritional
program. To some extent, this need is met by way of a helpful Summary in the
Appendix. However, such information can be presented in greater detail and
in a more user-friendly manner, by employing graphics to full advantage.
Some years ago I watched a video tape of a Gerson patients’ “reunion.” On
stage were people from all walks of life, and most were advanced in age. One
after the other they spoke of the cancer they were diagnosed with three, ten,
or twenty years ago. All were recovered. Dr. Gerson was the reason. You cannot
watch such an event and fail to be moved.
A special benefit of The Gerson Therapy is that it is not specifically a cancer
treatment. Dr. Gerson saw it as a metabolic treatment, one that cleanses the
human organism while strengthening the body’s ability to heal itself.
Not surprisingly, therefore, the Gerson therapy is effective against all manner
of diseases, some 50 of which are listed on page 21.
I am even more interested in the preventive aspects of the Gerson diet. As
I write this, I have a cool quart and a half of carrot juice in my tummy. I
do not particularly enjoy carrot juice, but I do want to prevent illness. Only
time will tell for me personally, but I am going to take a Pascal-like viewpoint:
there is no down side to juiced vegetables.
Well, maybe one: some people don’t wish to change their diet and lifestyle.
Jack Benny, when asked “Your money or your life” made radio comedy
history with his answer, “I’m thinking!” To a profoundly
sick person, the question might be rephrased, “The Gerson Therapy or
your life.” Too many persons have died thinking.
Don’t be one of them.
"I see in Dr. Max Gerson one of the most eminent geniuses in medical history."
Dr. Albert Schweitzer
from Physiol. Chem. & Physics 10 (1978)
THE CURE OF ADVANCED CANCER BY DIET THERAPY:
A SUMMARY OF 30 YEARS OF CLINICAL EXPERIMENTATION
MAX GERSON, M.D.
Gerson Institute, Box 535, Imperial Beach, California 92032
(1978 Publisher's Note. This is a lecture given by Dr. Gerson in Escondido,
California, in 1956. Dr. Gerson died in 1959. More complete information on
his therapy for advanced cancer may be found in his book A Cancer Therapy:
Results ol 50 Cases, by Max Gerson, 3rd edition, 1977, Totality Books, Del
Mar, CA or from his daughter Mrs. Charlotte Gerson Straus at the Gerson Institute,
Box 535, Imperial Beach, CA 92032. Socioeconomic and political perspectives
are discussed in the book Has Dr. Max Gerson a True Cancer Cure? by S. J. Haught,
1976, Major Books, 21335, Roscoe Blvd., Canoga Park, CA 91304.)
Abstract:
Thirty years of clinical experimentation has led to a successful therapy for
advanced cancer. This therapy is based on the concepts (1) that cancer patients
have low immuno-reactivity and generalized tissue damage, especially of the
liver, and (2) that when the cancer is destroyed, toxic degradation products
appear in the bloodstream which lead to coma and death from liver failure.
The therapy consists of high potassium, low sodium diet, with no fats or oils,
and minimal animal proteins. Juices of raw fruits and vegetables and of raw
liver provide active oxidizing enzymes which facilitate rehabilitation of the
liver. Iodine and niacin supplementation is used. Caffeine enemas cause dilation
of bile ducts, which facilitates excretion of toxic cancer breakdown products
by the liver and dialysis of toxic products from blood across the colonic wall.
The therapy must be used as an integrated whole. Parts of the therapy used
in isolation will not be successful. This therapy has cured many cases of advanced
cancer.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I came here on vacation; I didn't come here for a lecture. I didn't bring anything.
So, I wrote down some things since I was asked to tell you first how I arrived
at the cancer treatment. It is a funny story.
When I was a physician for internal diseases in Bielefeld [Germany) in 1928,
one day I was called to see a lady. I asked her what was wrong with her but
on the telephone she didn't want to tell me. So I went there, a little outside
of town. Then I asked her "What's wrong?" She told me she was operated
on in a big clinic nearby and they found a cancer of the bile duct. I saw the
operation scar. She was running a high fever, was jaundiced. I told her, "Sorry,
I can do nothing for you. I don't know how to treat cancer. I have not seen
results, especially in such an advanced case where there is no longer the possibility
of operation." So, she said, "No, doctor, I called because I saw
the results in your treatment of tuberculosis and arthritis in various cases.
Now, here is a pad and you write down a treatment. On that table over there,
there is a book, and in that book, you will be good enough to read to me aloud
the chapter called The Healing of Cancer.”
It was a big book of about 1,200 pages on folk medicine and in the middle there
was that chapter. I started to read. That book was edited by three schoolteachers
and one physician. None of them practiced medicine. So they put together that
book. I read that chapter. In it there was something about Hippocrates who
gave these patients a special soup. I should like to tell you, we use that
soup at the present time! That soup from that book, out of the practice of
Hippocrates - 550 years before Christ! He was the greatest physician at that
time, and I even think the greatest physician of all time. He had the idea
that the patient has to be detoxified with the soup and with some enemas and
so on.
I read and read but finally I told the lady, "Look, because of my tuberculosis
treatment physicians are opposed to me. Therefore I'd like not to treat you." Again
she insisted, "I'll give you in writing that you are not responsible for
the outcome of the treatment and that I insisted that you do so." So with
that signed statement, I thought, all right, let's try. I wrote down the treatment.
It was almost the same which I used for tuberculosis patients (1-7) which I
had worked out and used at the University Clinic in Munich with Prof. Sauerbruch.
After the work at the University Clinic the treatment had been established
and had been found effective. (8, 9). I thought that maybe it will be effective
in cancer too. It is always written in scientific books that tuberculosis and
cancer are both degenerative diseases where the body has to be detoxified.
But this latter thought was written only by Hippocrates.
I tried - and the patient was cured! Six months later she was up and around
in the best condition. Then she sent me two other cancer cases. One of her
family with a stomach cancer where it had been found during an attempted operation
that there were metastasized glands around the stomach-also cured! And I had
to cure then, against my will, a third case. I expected to have still more
opposition from the medical profession. The third case was also a stomach cancer.
It was also cured. Three cases were tried and all three cases were cured!
I have to tell you that up to this day, I don't know how this happened, how
I stumbled into that, how this was achieved. At that time I always said that
I didn't know why they were cured. I didn't know enough about cancer and it
was such a difficult problem to go into. But once it was in my head and in
my hands and in my heart, I could no longer separate myself from that problem.
Some time later I was in Vienna. I had left Germany due to the political upheaval
at the time of Hitler. There in Vienna I tried six cases and in all six cases,
no results-all failures. That was shocking. The sanatorium where I treated
my patients was not so well organized for dietary treatments. They treated
other diseases by other methods and didn't pay much attention to diet. So,
I attributed the failures to that.
Then I came to Paris. In Paris, I tried seven cases and I had three results.
One of the cases was an older man. He had a cancer of the cecum where the colon
starts, 70 years old. Another case was a lady from Armenia. This was a very
interesting case. I had to work against the whole family. There were many physicians
in the family, and I had plenty of trouble. But, anyway, I came through in
that case. She had cancer of the breast which regrew. Every time the family
insisted that she was "so much down." She weighed only 78 pounds.
She was skin and bones and they wanted me to give her egg yolks. I gave her
small amounts of egg yolks-the cancer regrew. Then they insisted that I give
her meat, raw chopped meat. I gave her this and the cancer regrew. The third
time, they wanted me to give her some oil. I gave her that oil and the third
time the cancer regrew. But, anyway, three times I could eliminate the cancer
again and cure. And still I had no idea what cancer was. If somebody asked
me about the theory, just what it was I was doing, I had to answer, "I
don't really know myself."
Some time later I came to this country. I couldn't get the cancer problem and
the cure of the first three cases out of my mind. I kept thinking "It
must be possible, it would a crime not to do it." But is wasn't so easy.
When I came here, I had no clinic. I didn't even have a license to practice
medicine. When I had taken the exams and could take patients, I had to treat
them at home and that was hard work. The patients didn't like to obey the diet,
to do it at home. They were accustomed to save kitchen time and not to work
hard to make all the juices necessary for the treatment as it had been worked
out.
Now the treatment for tuberculosis was a saltless diet, mostly fruit and vegetables,
vegetables cooked without added water, steamed in their own juices, with a
heavy pot, no aluminum. The cover had to be heavy and fit well so that the
steam could not escape. Then they had to have most of the food raw, finely
grated. They had to drink orange juice, grapefruit juice, and apple and carrot
juice. This had to be produced in a special machine-a grinder and a separate
press-because I found that in centrifugal juicers or liquefiers, I couldn't
obtain the kind of juice which cured patients.
At first, I had thought that liquefiers would be the most wonderful thing.
All the material was there, nothing was lost. But it didn't work. Then I found
out through a physicist that in the liquefier, in the center, there is positive
electricity and in the fluid there is negative electricity. This electricity
kills the oxidizing enzymes. And that is also true for the centrifugal juicer
and the other apparatus. The juice must therefore be made by a grinder and
a separate press - if possible, made of stainless steel. (Editor's note: a
masticating juicer, such as a Champion, might also work.)
The patients must drink a lot of those juices. They have to have the Hippocrates
soup. I can't go into all the details. The evening would not be long enough
for that. But very important for the detoxification are enemas. I felt that
the detoxification as suggested in the book of Hippocrates was a most important
part.
Finally, I had a clinic. The patients saw that also the more advanced cases
and even some terminal cases, very far advanced cases, could be saved. They
brought me more and more of these terminal cases. I was forced into that. On
the one side, the knife of the AMA was at my throat and on my back. I had only
terminal cases. If I had not saved them, my clinic would have been a death
house. Some of the cases were brought on stretchers. They couldn't walk. They
could no longer eat. It was very, very difficult. So, I really had to work
out a treatment that could help these far advanced cases.(10,11) Again, I was
forced into it.
On the need of where to put the emphasis: reading all the literature, I saw
that all the scientists treat the symptoms. These, I thought, are only symptoms.
There must be something basic behind them. It has to be impossible that there
are symptoms in the brain, others in the lungs, in the bones, it the abdomen
and in the liver. There must be something basic, or else this is impossible.
Already, through my work with tuberculosis, I learned that in tuberculosis
and in all other degenerative diseases, one must not trcat the symptoms. The
body-the whole body-has to be treated. But that is easily said. How will you
do it? Little by little I came to the conclusion that the most important part
of our body is the digestive tract. For all our intake to be properly digested,
and for the other organs of the digestive tract to function right and help
in the digestion to the end product-and at the same time eliminate all the
waste products-all the toxins and poisons which must be eliminated so that
nothing will accumulate in our system, I thought that this was the most important
thing in the tuberculosis treatment. It must be the same in all the other degenerative
diseases, too. And still, up to the present, I am convinced that cancer does
not need a "specific" treatment.
Cancer is a so-called degenerative disease, and all the degenerative diseases
have to be treated so that the whole body at first is detoxified. In my tuberculosis
work again, I saw that the liver plays the important role. It eliminates the
toxins from the body, prepares them so they can enter into the bile ducts,
and can thus be eliminated with the bile-that is not an easy job. In addition,
the liver helps to prepare the stomach juice with the help of the visceral
nervous system. The liver helps to prepare the pancreas, trypsin, pepsin, lipase,
the digestive enzymes-all that is regulated with the help of the visceral nervous
system. The liver has many, many more very important functions. One of them
is the reactivation of the oxidizing enzymes as we know through Rudolf Schoenheimer.
He did the work along these lines. It would go too far to go into that at this
time. It is very important to note that oxidizing enzymes are at a low level
of function in cancer patients.
Now let us anticipate the theory. During these years the idea occurred to me
that there are two components in cancer which are of particular importance.
One is the whole body, the general component. The other is a local one, the
symptom. The treatment has to be applied to the general component. When we
are able to bring this into balance, the local one disappears.
What is the general component and what does the treatment have to do to bring
it into balance? I should like to devote this evening mostly to that question.
The general component is the digestive tract and the liver. The digestive tract
is very much poisoned in cancer. How can we handle that? Detoxification is
an easy word, but it is very difficult to do in cancer patients. These cases,
when they are far advanced, can hardly eat. They have no stomach juice, the
liver doesn't function, the pancreas doesn't function, nothing is active.
Where do we begin?. The most important first step is the detoxification. So
let us go into that. First, we gave some different enemas. I found out that
the best enema is the coffee enema as it was first used by Prof. 0. A. Meyer
in Goettingen. This idea occurred to him when together with Prof.Heubner he
gave caffeine solution into the rectum of animals. He observed that the bile
ducts were opened and more bile could flow. I felt that this was very important
and I worked out coffee enemas. We took three heaping tablespoons of ground
coffee for one quart of water, let it boil for three minutes, then simmer 10
to 20 minutes, and then gave it at body temperature.
The patients reported that this was doing them good. The pain disappeared even
though in order to carry through the detoxification, we had to take away all
sedation. I realized that it is impossible to detoxify the body on the one
hand and put in drugs and poisons on the other, such as sedation medication
- demerol, codeine, morphine, scopolamine, etc. So, we had to put the medication
aside which again was a very difficult problem. One patient told me that he
had one grain of codeine every two hours and he got morphine injections . .
. how can you take these away? I told him that the best sedation is a coffee
enema. After a very short time he had to agree with that. Some of the patients
who had been in severe pain didn't take coffee enemas every four hours as I
prescribed - they took one every two hours. But no more sedation.
After just a few days there was very little pain, almost none. I can give you
an example. A lady came to me not so long ago. She had cancer of the cervix
and then two large tumor masses around the uterus. The cervix was a large crater,
necrotic, producing blood and pus, and the poor lady couldn't sit any more.
The condition was inoperable. She had been given X-rays and vomited any food
she took in. She couldn't lie down anymore. She could not sit. She walked around
day and night. When she came to my clinic the manager told me, "Doctor,
you can't keep her here. This moaning and walking day and night is keeping
the other patients from sleeping." After four days she was able to sleep
with no sedative whatsoever - which had not helped her much anyway. The sedation
had worked for perhaps half an hour or so. After 8 to 10 days, she asked me
for just one thing: let her omit that night enema at 3 or 4 o'clock in the
morning. These patients who absorb the big tumor masses are awakened with an
alarm clock every night because they are otherwise poisoned by the absorption
of these masses. If I give them only one or two or three enemas, they die of
poisoning.
I did not have the right as a physician to cause the body to absorb all the
cancer masses and then not to detoxify enough. With two or three enemas they
were not detoxified enough. They went into a coma hepaticum (liver coma). Autopsies
showed that the liver was poisoned. I learned from these disasters that you
can't give these patients too much detoxification. So I told this lady that
for one night she could sleep for seven hours-but only for one night. I wouldn't
risk more! When I didn't give these patients the night enemas, they were drowsy
and almost semi-conscious in the morning. The nurses confirmed this and told
me that it takes a couple of enemas till they are free of this toxic state
again. I cannot stress the detoxification enough. Even so with all these enemas,
this was not enough! I had to give them also castor oil by mouth and by enema
every other day, at least for the first two weeks or so. After these two weeks
you wouldn't recognize these patients any more! They had arrived on a stretcher
and now they walked around. They had appetite. They gained weight and the tumors
went down.
You will ask, "How can such a cancerous tumor go down?" That was
a difficult question for me to understand. I had learned in my treatment of
tuberculosis patients that I had to add potassium, iodine, and liver injections
to help the liver and the whole body to restore the potassium. Now as far as
I can see this is the situation. At first we give the patient the most salt-free
diet possible.(12) So, as much salt (sodium) is removed from the body as can
be. During the first days, 3 grams, 5 grams, up to 8 grams a day of sodium
are eliminated while the patients receive only about one half gram of sodium
content in the diet and no sodium is added.
The patients are given thyroid and lugol solution (lugol's solution is iodine
plus potassium iodide) I learned first through the so-called Gudenath tadpole
experiment that iodine is necessary to increase and help the oxidation ability.
Then we gave the patients large amount of potassium.(12) It took about 300
experiments until I found the right potassium combination. It is a 10% solution
of potassium gluconate, potassium phosphate (monobasic), and potassium acetate.
From that solution the patient is given four teaspoonsful 10 times a day in
juices. That large amount of potassium is introduced into the body.(12) At
the same time 5 times one grain of thyroid and 6 times three drops of lugol
solution, ½ strength. That's 18 drops of lugol which is a large dose.
Nobody was observed to develop heart palpitations from that, even if some patients
told me that they could previously not take thyroid because they would develop
heart palpitation. And all allergies disappeared! Some patients claimed that
they could previously not take one teaspoonful of lemon juice or orange juice
- they were allergic. But when they are well detoxified and have plenty of
potassium, they are not allergic. Allergies and other hypersensitivities are
eliminated.
When introduced into the system, thyroid and lugol solution go immediately
into the cancer mass. These ripe cells take it up fast and they perhaps grow
a little faster but they soak in more with great greed - as much as they can
- together with a little bit of sodium, probably. But then there isn't much
sodium left. So then these cells pick up potassium and the oxidizing enzymes
and die by themselves. You have to realize that cancer cells live essentially
on fermentation but potassium and oxidizing enzymes introduce oxidation. And
that is the point at which we can kill cancer cells because we take away the
conditions which they need to continue to live.
But now we have to deal with a mass of dead cells in the body, in the blood
stream -and they have to be eliminated wherever they may be. And that is not
so easy! The ripe cells, the mature cells are very abnormal. These are much
more easily killed than the other cells which are unripe, not yet mature, and
not so well developed. And there are other cancer cells in lymph vessels. These
are clogged at both ends by cancer cells. No blood and no lymph can reach them.
There are cancer cells in the glands. They are hidden there, protected from
regular circulation. So it isn't easy to reach these. At first it is only the
big mass which killed. But this dead mass now has to be absorbed wherever it
is - perhaps in the uterus, perhaps in the kidney, or in the lung, or in the
brain - this has to be absorbed. This absorption is only possible through the
blood stream. I call this "parenteral digestion." Enteral digestion
is in the intestinal tract. Parenteral digestion takes place outside of the
digestive tract, through the blood stream. It becomes important then to continually
carry on detoxification day and night in order to bring the parenteral digestion
to the highest point, even to a "hyperfunction." How can this be
done?
I found that in order to bring the parenteral digestion to the highest function,
it is necessary to start with the soil. Our soil must be normal, no artificial
fertilizers should be used, no poisons, no sprays which go into the soil and
poison it. Whatever grows on a poisoned soil carries poison too. And that is
our food, our fruit and vegetables. I am convinced that the soil is our external
metab6lism. It is not really far removed from our bodies. We depend on it.
But our modern food, the "normal" food people eat is bottled, poisoned,
canned, color added, powdered, frozen, dipped in acids, sprayed-no longer normal.
We no longer have living, normal food, our food and drink is a mass of dead,
poisoned material, and one cannot cure very sick people by adding poisons to
their systems. We cannot detoxify our bodies when we add poisons through our
food which is one of the reasons why cancer is so much on the increase. Saving
time in the kitchen is fine but the consequences are terrible. Thirty or fifty
years ago (this speech was delivered in 1956) cancer was a disease of old age.
Only elderly people whose liver was no longer working well - was worn out-became
sick. They contracted cancer when they were 60 to 70 years old and cancer was
a rare disease. Everybody knows that. And now four, even going on one out of
three dies of cancer. Now in the second generation it is even worse. The poor
children get leukemias more and more. There is no country which has so much
leukemia as this country (USA), no country in the world. That is our fault.
Ice cream is made with invert sugar. Coca-Cola contains phosphoric acid. Is
it surprising that children get degenerative disease? These things constitute
our external metabolism.
Now let us consider our digestive tract. As part of the digestive tract, the
most important thing is that we restore the function of the liver - the tissue
and the function of the liver. That is very hard work. We give the patients
(including also the tuberculosis patients) liver injections, and since most
of these patients need an increase in the red blood cells, we add some vitamin
B12. They receive 3 cc of crude liver extract together with 100 mcg of B12.
In addition when I found that our fruit and vegetables no longer have the normal
content of potassium and not enough of the oxidizing enzymes, I looked for
the best source of potassium in the best composition and the best supply of
oxidizing enyymes. I found that to be calves liver. But we cannot give the
patient calves liver because it contains too much fat and cholesterol. As you
know, fat and oils cannot be given Therefore we give these patients freshly
pressed calves liver juice, which is made in a special way with equal parts
of carrots. Liver alone cannot be pressed. We take ½ pound fresh calves
liver (not frozen) and ½ pound of carrots to make one glass of 200 cc
(approx. 8 oz.) of fresh juice. The patients, the far advanced cases, get two
glasses a day, even three glasses, and they like it!
All this is done in the effort to restore the enteral digestion. When that
functions, we add stomach juice (Acidol Pepsin) and we add pancreatin not coated.
The cancer patients cannot digest the coated pancreatin. The pancreatin is
given five times a day, three tablets each time. So they always have plenty
of trypsin, pepsin, lipase and diastase in their systems. The blood can carry
this around and digest the tumor masses wherever they may be.
Now, since I am running out of time, I should like to tell you what we do to
prove that this treatment really does work on cancer.(13,14) Number one, the
results. I think I can claim that I have, even in these far advanced cases,
50% results. The real problem arises when we cannot restore the liver. Then
there is no hope. The liver-the restoration of the liver and its functions-are
so important that some of the patients whose livers cannot be restored die
some six months to 2½ years later from cirrhosis. Autopsies show no
cancer cells in the body. They did not die from cancer. They died from a shrunken
liver. Since I give more liver juice and I give more for promoting the parenteral
digestion, these cases of a shrunken liver are rare.
I think I could do a lot to improve the results. I do not want to go into the
problems that patients face when they go home and the family physician tells
them that they need not "eat that cow fodder." Or the family thinks
they cannot carry through this treatment because it is too much work as it
takes one to one and a half years to restore the liver. The liver cells are
renewed in four to five weeks, five to six weeks in older patients. To restore
such a liver, you would need 12 to 15 new generations of liver cells. That
is 1½ years. But the most important part of the treatment, I have learned,
is to give the patients a new functioning liver.
Now, for the proof of this theory. I had the idea to make an animal experiment
in which we connected two rats - one cancerous rat and one healthy one. We
cut them open along the side and connected a blood vessel, then sewed them
together: The blood from the healthy rat circulated in the sick one day and
night and cleared up the sick body. Thus we showed that with a healthy normal
metabolism you can cure cancer. You can cure the cancerous rat with the healthy
body of the normal rat. But we are in the early stages of this type of experiment.
There was one patient whose husband wanted to be connected to his wife because
of her very poor condition. But she said no, she didn't want to have him immobilized
so long, next to her, with extensive nursing day and night. When she was first
brought in to me, she had a very bad liver with probably hundreds of metastases,
also in the rest of the body. I had told them that I didn't believe I could
do anything for her, so the husband had offered his healthy body. But, even
as it is, she is still living and improving. At any rate, with this type of
experiment we have had no experience on human beings, only on rats.
Our next step to prove the theory was by taking tiny tissue samples from the
liver by liver punctures. When time goes on and the patient recovers, the liver
shows microscopically and chemically that recovery has taken place. This is
done by micro-chemistry. There is an increase of the potassium content and
iron, and now we can even trace the content of cobalt.
For ten years, I examined the potassium content in the serum of human beings
and I made about 200 curves. But these are not characteristic. On the other
hand, if we take a little tissue - a little mucous membrane or muscle tissue
with the improvement of the patient, the tissue also shows a return to the
normal potassium content. (12) This is of tremendous importance.
Two months ago when I planned to come here for my vacation, the parents of
this little boy wrote me and asked me for treatment for leukemia. Here is the
little boy. He was treated with blood transfusions, had been 50 and 60,000
white blood count and his red blood count was down to 1,400,000. He lost eight
pounds in one week, couldn't eat or drink. I started the treatment about six
weeks ago. Since that time, the boy is up and around, he can ride his bicycle,
he is active and gained a total of five pounds. The blood count is normal.
Lymphocytes are 6,500; hemoglobin is 73; 4,500,000 red blood cells - from 1,400,000!
And here is the little boy. (The mother adds: “I want to tell you doctor,
he really likes the liver juice, he doesn't want to eat chocolate!”)
You see, the liver juice, the children really like it and ask for more. In
the clinic where the parents had taken the child, they were told that nothing
could be done for him but I feel that now we can save
this child. (Applause)
I have here another patient: Mr. Eyerly. Could you come here? Mr. Eyerly came
here to see me. He lives in Salem, Oregon. The man had cancer of the prostate
and it had grown into the urine bladder. He went to the University Clinic at
Portland, Oregon, to a famous urologist. He diagnosed the metastasis into the
urinary bladder and said that they could do nothing. Besides, the cancer had
grown into the pelvic bones. This was two years ago. The physicians, including
the family doctor, all told him that he could live only 4 to 6 weeks, especially
since all bones of the pelvis were full of cancer. He looked terribly ill when
he came to me. His wife brought him with a nurse. He had made his last will
and did not expect to live. Now we cured that. It was especially difficult.
I should like to thank his wife. She prepared the treatment with the greatest
devotion. She was wonderful and we could rely on her. In a family where there
is real devotion in the application of this treatment, we can even save these
far advanced cases. Of course, we cannot save all of them but we can save more
than we sometimes even consider possible. (Question from the audience: “How
long did it take?”) In the urinary bladder, it didn't take but a few
weeks and there was no longer any blood and pus, nor in the stools either.
But in the pelvis there were hundreds of spots, and that takes a long time
because the body transforms this cancer first into so-called osteoplastic areas,
not an osteolytic process which is bone reducing. With my treatment more bone
is produced. The body produces more bone, and then the hypertrophic bone is
transformed into normal bone tissue. Then there is no more pain. Now the patient
can get around and is even the manager of a company.
By chance I had these two patients here and could show them to you.
Post-Lecture Questions and Answers
Q. Can fibroid tumors be dissolved in the same manner?
A. Fibroid tumors are mostly benign. Benign tumors take 10 to 20 times as much
time to absorb as malignant tumors. This goes for adhesions and scars. Fibroid
and benign tumors are dissolved only very slowly because they are not abnormal.
It is difficult for the parenteral system to bring its digestive powers to
bear on these benign tumors. But when they turn malignant, then they are quickly
dissolved.
Q. (from a doctor) Dr. Gerson, when I visited your hospital in 1946 your housekeeper
was drinking fresh carrot juice. She had had an inoperable cancer of the pancreas.
Please tell us about her. She was doing very well for such a bad condition.
A. She is living and in good condition now, 10 years later.
Q. Is cancer a state of reaction of unrestrained excessive factors of certain
hormones working on various degenerated organs or tissues?
A. No, I don't think so. There is much more and to answer that question, I
have to go deeper into the problem. We have to separate the state of pre-cancerous
condition from the state where the cancer appears. In the pre-cancerous condition,
all is prepared. The liver is sufficiently damaged and the other organs of
the intestinal tract are damaged enough and then later the symptoms appear.
Until then we have the pre-cancerous condition and this condition cannot be
cured with hormones and enzymes, etc. We can to a certain degree stimulate
the liver with hormones. We can stimulate the liver with cortisone. We can
stimulate the liver with adrenalin etc., but then we take out the last reserves.
We empty the liver instead of refilling it. What we have to do in cancer -a
degenerative, deficiency disease- is to refill the organs which are empty and
poisoned. Therefore it is almost a crime to give cortisone and the other stimulants
which will take away the last reserves and improve the condition for a short
while only.
Q. Why are all berries prohibited?
A. Some of the patients are hypersensitive, especially in the beginning, against
berries which are a little difficult to digest. Therefore I cut them out.
Q. Are tomatoes OK?
A. Tomatoes are OK.
Q. Soy products and soy beans are forbidden. But is lecithin forbidden, which
is made from soy beans?
A. Since soy beans contain fats, I had to forbid them. Cancer patients are
not able for a long time to digest fats to the end products. When some intermediate
substances are left in the body, they work as carcinogenic substances. Therefore
we had to cut out fats, oil, and goods containing them for a long time.
Q. What metabolic tests do you do before and after to further prove recovery
systematically as well as clinically?
A. I examine in all these case the urine, the complete blood count, basal metabolism
or protein-bound iodine, and potassium in serum and tissue. To see how the
liver functions, I found it best to examine the end product of the protein
metabolism, urea nitrogen and uric acid. When these are normal and stay normal,
then I assume that the patient is all right. But potassium in serum does not
give a characteristic picture and makes it difficult to judge. The patient
can be cured yet the serum potassium still shows low because the tissues take
it away. In some of the cancer patients when they arrive as terminal cases,
potassium is above normal! One of the physicians asked me once, "Are you
crazy? With the potassium above normal, you give such big doses of potassium?" And
I said, “Yes, sir, I am not crazy. The patient is losing the potassium.
(12) That is how it is increased in the serum."
Q.Is fat-free lecithin OK?
A. Yes. But not in the beginning. After six weeks, fat-free lecithin is OK.
Q. How harmful is coffee as a drink?
A. Coffee as a drink can be used by the patients only when they take the castor
oil because coffee increases the motility of the stomach so the castor oil
moves more quickly out of the stomach. But otherwise, coffee as a drink disturbs
the function of the capillaries and therefore it has to be cut out.
Q. Would not detoxification be advisable in the majority of illnesses? Is this
not comparable to what is called "a cleansing program?"
A. We have to detoxify the body in all degenerative diseases, in acute diseases
too. But not to the extent as is required in cancer. Even most of the arthritis
cases are not so toxic. I found that almost all of the arthritis cases have
a weak liver or damaged liver. This is also true of coronary disease.
Q. Are (synthetic) vitamin and mineral supplements OK?
A. No, they are wrong because calcium and many other minerals cannot be added
so easily. They bring the system out of harmony. With calcium you can produce
cancer. I was forced in three cases of hemophilia to give calcium to bring
the blood to coagulate. I did it but the cancer regrew and I lost all three
cases. No calcium, no magnesium, no other minerals. I tried it. There must
be harmony in our body under the law of totality. One should not change the
mineral metabolism, especially not in cancer. Only the two most important minerals
potassium and sodium must be balanced. This is the need of the cancer patient.
Q. In John Gunther's book, Death Be Not Proud, mention is made of your treatment
as used on John Gunther's son. Spectacular results were obtained at first but
then there was a relapse and the patient died. Could you have cured this case
without the regular MD's interference?
A. I will tell you why this poor boy died. He had a terrible brain tumor growing
out of the skull, larger than my fist. I cured that. It's written in the book.
But after that, the boy had an eczema and this eczema was of a special type
which can usually be cured by giving the anterior lobe pituitary extract, a
hormone. The family doctor, Dr. Traeger, said, "Why don't you give it
to him?" But I told him that this is a terrible risk and I don't like
to take such a risk with the life of that boy. When we give the pituitary,
like many other hormones we may kill. But finally I gave in and it was my fault.
And for a long time after that I couldn't sleep nights. I gave him the hormone
and the tumor regrew. I can add to that, that more than 12 years ago now, there
appeared an article by a professor in Chicago that cancer patients benefit
from administration of sex hormones. I gave it first to three patients, then
to five. They reacted well for the first two to three months. Then I gave it
to 25 more. They all reacted well for three to four months but after five months
they went downhill. I lost 25 of my best cancer cases. Only six I could save
again. That was the disaster from the hormone treatment. The Gunther boy was
another disaster. That was not necessary. I want to reemphasize that we must
not give the cancer patient "a little something" for temporary relief.
I learned that the hard way.
Q. Your treatment worked in advanced cases of cancer of the liver?
A. If more than half to three-quarters of the liver is gone, you can't restore
its function enough to save the patient. You may save them for half a year
to a year, but then the liver may shrink and the patients die of a shrunken
liver, cirrhosis of the liver. The liver is such an important organ that when
it has to eliminate its own cancer, this has to be done by the healthy liver
tissue. But the process of elimination can damage the healthy liver tissue
if we don't detoxify constantly day and night, especially in these cases.
Now about three or four months ago a case came to me from Philadelphia. She
told me when her son and. brother brought her in that she had suffered from
cancer of the rectum. At first the doctors didn't want to operate, then they
couldn't. It was too late. Then she spent a half year at the Hoxey Clinic,
and then she came home with a liver full of cancer, and hard as a board. I
told her son and brother that this was too much, it wouldn't go. Take her home
and make her comfortable. But they insisted I must try. And I did. And she
is doing well! She can eat and drink, and the anterior part of her liver is
a scar, hard as though it were calcified. Probably there is enough liver left.
The son asked when they took her home after eight weeks, "You see, why
didn't you want to take her?" At least for four weeks, every two hours
and sometimes even every hour, she took coffee enema and castor oil enemas
twice a day! She had so much gas and eliminated such large amounts of evil-smelling
masses. When she left, we had to paint the room. It couldn't be washed off
the paint.
(Comment by M.C.: “I may say that I have looked through a lot of these
places in a general way. I have been through Dr. Gerson's sanatorium on three
different occasions and spent each time eight or ten days. I saw cases come
in there by ambulance, on stretchers - just like Dr. Gerson said -hopeless
metastatic cancers of the liver, the intestines, with obstructions, getting
morphine every three to four hours. To my amazement within ten days these same
patients would be walking around, free from pain. I was so amazed I couldn't
understand it. It was so incredible that I made my son who was a senior in
medical school come back with me to see these things. But it was not only cancer.
I saw cases there of other degenerative diseases of all types.”)
Q. Is folic acid treatment contra-indicated during treatment of cancer?
A. Yes, (synthetic) folic acid did damage.
Q. Can arthritis be cured by the same treatment which you use for cancer?
A. Yes. The treatment is not specific. It is not a specific treatment for cancer.
Q. How do you account for the fact that many skin cancers and some other cancers
can be surgically removed and they never regrow or recur, even though no metabolic
changes have been made?
A. Some patients have only temporary damage of the liver and the liver is then
able to restore itself. But that is not in a majority of the cases. Sometimes
if you remove, say a breast cancer, the removal of these toxins and poisons
which the cancer itself generates is sufficient in some cases to relieve the
temporary damage from the liver. Then the liver can recover. But these are
the exceptions. And it is not basic. Also some of these patients get recurrences
later. Many of my patients, after an initial operation, had stayed well for
three or sometimes even five years. Then the cancer recurred. They were inoperable
and orthodox medicine was helpless.
Q. Would it not be advantageous for the cancer patients to remain permanently
on a
vegetarian diet for the rest of their lives?
A. That depends on how far the liver can be restored. If it can be restored
entirely, after say 1½ years, we tell the patients only to avoid fats
and salt. Otherwise they are free. Many of them lead normal lives. But I'd
like to say that about 75% like to stay more or less on the diet, and some
even convince the other members of their families to stay on it with them.
For instance, we have a photograph here in Escondido of Mr. Walter Wagg. He
had a 100% incurable disease, progressive muscular dystrophy. He had been in
the best clinics and could get no help. I cured him. Then his wife wanted to
have another baby and they were able to have one. Later he came to where I
was spending my vacation and showed me his wife and the baby. He told me that
the whole family sticks to the diet and said he would stay with it as long
as he lived since he is in such fine condition.
Q. What can be done for impaired lymph circulation following surgery in one
arm for what was diagnosed as cancer?
A. It is very difficult to absorb these scars so that the lymph circulation
can be restored, a very difficult task. It takes years.
Q. What is your conception of a prolonged fast or periodical three-day fast?
A. You can't let the cancer patient fast. In the cancer patient the body is
so depleted, if you let them fast they go downhill terribly.
Q. What would you consider more important, diet or balanced emotions?
A. The balanced emotional condition is very important but without the diet
and the
detoxification you cannot heal.
Q. Would Parkinson's disease respond to a treatment similar as that for cancer?
A. What is destroyed in the central nervous system - and Parkinson's disease
is a disease of the basal centers - is destroyed forever. But you are able
to help the arteries in the brain with the treatment, and you can stop the
progression, and you can restore what is not yet entirely destroyed.
Q. Does anemia contribute to cancer?
A. Sometimes it is a pre-condition to cancer, especially a certain type of
anemia, not the so-called secondary anemia.
Q. Can too much vegetable juice cause alkalinity?
A. No.
Q. Dr. Otto Warburg advises increased intake of oxygen.
A. Oxygen would not go into the system so easily. You must have oxidizing enzymes,
you must have more potassium, you must have the conditions under which oxygen
can function.
Q. What vitamins are OK to take with your treatment?
A. With the vitamins we have a similar situation as we saw with the hormones.
I damaged patients with vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin B and B6. Patients get
really damaged. Vitamin A and D is picked up by the cancer cells immediately.
Niacin we can use, that is B-3. (Editor’s Note: the Gerson Diet is extremely
high in natural vitamins. Cancer patients are probably very sensitive to overdosage
with synthetic vitamin preparations.)
Q. What do you think of deep manipulation?
A. Cancer patients should not be massaged. Rubbing of the skin to open the
capillaries and to help the body to stimulate the circulation is very valuable.
We give the patient a rub two or three times a day before meals with a solution
of ½ glass water with two tablespoons rubbing alcohol and two tablespoons
of wine vinegar. To rub the whole body is very refreshing and helps the circulation.
Q. Can a person with a colostomy take the same type of coffee enema as a regular
patient?
A. Yes.
Q. What are the principles of the coffee enema?
A. It opens the bile ducts. This is the principle.
Q. How can we prevent cancer?
A. Cancer must be prevented by preventing damage to the liver. The basic measure
of prevention is not to eat the damaged, dead, poisoned food which we bring
into our bodies. Every day, day by day, we poison our bodies. The older people
still have a better liver and resistance from the food they had when they were
young. The younger people get worse and the babies, now the second generation
on canned baby foods, are still worse. They get leukemias. First of all, eat
as much as you can of raw food, keep the potassium level up,
and take some iodine.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. F. Sauerbruch, A. Herrmannsdorfer and M. Gerson, “Ueber Versuche,
schwere Formen der Tuberkulose durch dietetische Behandlungen zu becinflussen," Muench.
Med. Wochenschr., 2, 1(1926).
2. M. Gerson, ibid, 77, 967 (1930).
3. M. Gerson, "Phosphorlebertran und die Gerson-Herrrnannsdorfersche Diat
zur Heilung der Tuberkulose," Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr., 12, 1(1930).
4. F. Sauerbruch, A. Herrmannsdorfer and M. Gerson, Muench. Med. Wochenschr,
23 (1930).
5. M. Gerson, "Wiederherstellung der verschiedenen Gefuchiqualitaeten
bei der Lupushei. lung," Verli. Disch. Ge:. Inn. Med., 43, 77 (1931).
6. M. Gerson, Diattherapie der Lungentuberkulose, Deuticke, Vienne, 1934.
7. M. Gerson, "Einiges ucher die kochsalzarme Diat," Hyppokokrates
Z. Einheitsbestr. Gegenwarismed., 12, 627 (1931).
8. F. Sauerbruch, Das War Mein Leben, Kindler und Schiermeyer Verlag, Bad Woerischofen,
1951, pp 363-371. This contains an account of how the author learned of Gerson's
work by an accidental conversation on the train with one of Gerson's cured
TB patients, which led to a large scale successful trial of the Gerson TB therapy
at the Sauerbruch clinic.
9. E. Urbach and E. B. Le Winn, Skin Diseases, Nutrition, and Metabolism. Grune
and Stratton, New York, 1946, pp 4, 65-67, 530-537. This contains a comprehensive
review (in English) of the successful use of the Gerson therapy to cure tuberculosis
of the skin.
10. M. Gerson, "Dietary considerations in malignant neoplastic disease.
A preliminary report," Rev. GastroenteroL, 12, 419 (1945).
11. "Effects of a combined dietary regime on patients with malignant tumors," Exp.
Med. Surg., 7, 299 (1949).
12. F. W. Cope, "A medical application of the Ling association-induction
hypothesis: The high potassium, low sodium diet of the Gerson cancer therapy," Physiol.
Chem. Phys., 10, 465 (1978).
13. M. Gerson, "Diattherapie boesartiger Erkrankungen (Krebs)," in
Handbuch der Diatetik. Scala, Ed., Deuticke, Vienna, 1954, pp 123-169.
14. M. Gerson, A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases, Third Ed., Totality
Books, Box 1035, Del Mar, California, 1977. This is comprehensive description
of the Gerson method of cancer treatment written both for the physician and
for the layman.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PAPERS OF MAX GERSON, MD
Prepared by and copyright © 1999 Howard Straus. All rights reserved. Reprinted
with permission.
(DY.Com editor's note by Andrew Saul: Max Gerson, MD was humanitarian physician
and Nobel-laurate Dr. Albert Schweitzer's personal physician. Dr. Gerson's
life moved through the First World War in Germany and the resulting Great Depression;
and flight from Hitler's persecution in the 1930's to the WW II era and McCarthy
period in America. That's why so many of his publications are in German. DY.Com
would welcome the assistance of a German language expert to translate and post
Gerson's work. Articles in English are found towards the bottom of this listing.)
Gerson, M. “Eine Bromoformvergiftung.” Aerztiliche Sachverständigen-Zeitung.
(Aus der innern Abteilung des Stadt. Krankenhauses im Friedrichshain zu Berlin).
S. 7, 1910.
Gerson, M. “Zur Aetiologie der myasthenischen Bulbarparalyse.” Berl.
Klin. Wchnschr. 53:1364, 1916.
Gerson, M. “Über Lähmungen bei Diphtheriebazillenträgern.” Berl.
Klin. Wchnschr. 56(12):274-277, Mar. 24, 1919.
Gerson, M. “Zur Aetiologie der multiplen Sklerose.” Deutsche. Ztschr.
f. Nervenh., Leipz. LXXIV, 251-259, 1922.
Gerson, M. “Über die konstitutionelle Grundlage von nervösen
Krankheitserscheinungen und deren therapeutische Beeinflussung.” Fortschr.
d. Med., Berl. 42:9-11, 1922.
Gerson, M. “Die Entstehung und Begründung der Diätbehandlung
der Tuberkulose. Med. Welt. 3:1313-1317, 1929.
Gerson, M. “Korrespondenzen. Rachitis und Tuberkulosebehandlung.” Deutsche.
med. Wchnschr. 55(38):1603, Sep. 20, 1929.
Gerson, M. “Phosphorlebertran und die Gerson-Herrmannsdorfersche Diät
zur Heilung der Tuberkulose.” Deutsche. med. Wchnschr. 56:478-480, Mar.
21, 1930.
Gerson, M. “Comment on Wichmann’s article of December 17.” Klin.
Wchnschr. 9:693-694, Apr. 12, 1930.
Gerson, M. “Einige Ergebnisse der Gerson-Diät bei Tuberkulose.” Med.
Welt. 4:815-820, Jun. 7, 1930.
Gerson, M. “Grundsätzliche Anleitungen zur “Gerson-Diät”.
Münch. med. Wochnschr. 77:967-971, Jun. 6, 1930.
Gerson, M. “Erwiderung auf die Arbeit; Die Gründe der Ablehnung
der salzlosen Diät durch die Tuberkuloseheilanstalten von Prof. O. Ziegler.” Deutsche
med. Wchnschr. 57:334-335, Feb. 20, 1931.
Gerson, M. “Einiges Über die Kochsalzarme Diät.” Hippokrates.
3:627-634, Mar. 1931.
Gerson, M. “Erwiderung auf die Arbeit C. v. Noordens ‘Kritische
Betrachtungen Über Gerson-Diät in Besondere bei Tuberkulose.’” Med.
Klin. Wchnschr. 45:1116-1117, Sep. 9, 1932.
Gerson, M. “Blutsenkung bei Diätbehandlung der Lungentuberkulose.” Zeitschr.
f. Tuberk. 63:327-337, 1932.
Gerson, M. “Einige Resultate der Diättherapie bei Kavernen nach
vorausgegangener chirurgischen Behandlung.” Verhandl. d. deutsche Gesellsch.
f. inn. Med. Kong. 44:222-224, 1932.
Gerson, M. “Diätbehandlung bei Migräne und Lungentuberkulose.” Wiener
Klin. Wchnschr. 45:744-748, Jun. 10, 1932.
Gerson, M. “Psychische Reaktionen während der Gerson-Diät bei
Lungentuberkulose.” Psychotherapeut. Praxis. 1:206-213, Dec. 1934.
Gerson, M. “Unspezifische Desensibilsierung durch Diät bei allergischen
Hautkrankheiten.” Dermat. Wchnschr. 100:441, Apr. 20, 1935.
Gerson, M. “Unspezifische Desensibilsierung durch Diät bei allergischen
Hautkrankheiten.” Dermat. Wchnschr. 100:478, Apr. 27, 1935.
Gerson, M. “Bemerkungen zum Aufsatz von Neumann “Ernährung
der Tuberkulösen.” Wien. Klin. Wchnschr. 48:272-273, Mar. 1, 1935.
Gerson, M. “Rückbildung von Entzündungen bei Gerson-Diät
unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Tuberkulösen Entzündung.” Wien.
Klin. Wchnschr. 48:847-853, Jun. 21, 1935.
Gerson, M. “Anmerkung zur obigen Ausführung von W. Newmann.” Wien.
Klin. Wchnschr. 48:1069, Aug. 23, 1935.
Gerson, M.; von Weisl, W. “Lebermedikamentur bei der Diättherapie
chronischer Krankheiten.” Wien. med.. Wchnschr. 85:1095-1098, Sep. 28,
1935.
Gerson, M.; von Weisl, W. “Flüssigkeitsreiche Kalidiät als
Therapie bei cardiorenaler Insuffizienz.” Münch. med. Wochnschr.
82:571-574, Apr. 11, 1935.
Gerson, M. “Feeding the German Army.” New York State J. Med. 41(13):1471-1476,
Jul. 1, 1941.
Gerson, M. “Some aspects of the problem of fatigue.” Med. Record.
156(6):341, 1943.
Gerson, M. “Dietary considerations in malignant neoplastic disease; preliminary
report.” Rev. Gastroenterol. 12:419-425, Nov.-Dec. 1945.
Gerson, M. “Case histories of ten cancer patients: clinical observations,
theoretical considerations and summary.” National Archives, Center for
Legislative Archives, Rec. Grp. 46, Rec. US Senate, Papers Relating to Specific
Bills and Resolutions, S.1875, 79th Cong., 2nd Session. Box 110, 8E2 24/14/4,
Jul. 1946.
Gerson, M. “The Jew and Diet.” The Jewish Forum, New York City,
Apr. 1948.
Gerson, M. “Effects of combined dietary regime on patients with malignant
tumors.” Exper. Med. & Surg. 7:299-317, Nov. 1949.
Gerson, M. “Theorie der diätetisch-medikamentösen Krebs-Behandlung.” Der
Wendepunkt, Zürich, Switzerland, XXVI(12):379-386, Nov. 1949. (Theory
of dietetic-medication in cancer treatment.)
Gerson, M. “Kein Krebs bei normalem Stoffwechsel; Ergebnisse einer speziellen
Therapie.” Med. Klin. 49(5):175-179, Jan. 29, 1954. (No cancer in normal
metabolism.)
Gerson, M. “Krebskrankheit, ein Problem das Stoffwechsels.” Med.
Klin. 49(26):1028-1032, Jun. 25, 1954. (Cancer, a problem of metabolism.)
Gerson, M. “Zur medikamentösen Behandlung Krebskranker nach Gerson.” Med.
Klin. 49(49):1977-1978, 1954. (On the medication treatment of cancer patients
after Gerson.)
Gerson, M. “A New Therapeutical Approach to Cancer.” Herald of
Health, Apr. 1957.
Gerson, M. “Cancer – Reflected Symptom of Abnormal Metabolism.” Let’s
Live Magazine, Los Angeles, CA, 1957.
Gerson, M. A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases. Whittier Books, New York
City, NY, 1958.
Gerson, M. “The cure of advanced cancer by diet therapy: a summary of
30 years of clinical experimentation.” Physiol. Chem. Phys. 10 (5):449-464,
1978.
Throughout our lives our bodies are being filled
with a variety of disease and cancer causing pollutants.
These toxins reach us through the air we breathe,
the food we eat, the medicines we take and the water
we drink. As more of these poisons are used every
day and cancer rates continue to climb, being able
to turn to a proven, natural, detoxifying treatment
like the Gerson Therapy is not only reassuring, but
necessary.
The Gerson Therapy is a powerful, natural treatment
that boosts your body's own immune system to heal
cancer, arthritis, heart disease, allergies, and
many other degenerative diseases. One aspect of the
Gerson Therapy that sets it apart from most other
treatment methods is its all-encompassing nature.
An abundance of nutrients from thirteen fresh, organic
juices are consumed every day, providing your body
with a superdose of enzymes, minerals and nutrients.
These substances then break down diseased tissue
in the body, while enemas aid in eliminating the
lifelong buildup of toxins from the liver.
With its whole-body approach to healing, the Gerson
Therapy naturally reactivates your body's magnificent
ability to heal itself - with no damaging side-effects.
Over 200 articles in respected medical literature,
and thousands of people cured of their "incurable" diseases
document the Gerson Therapy's effectiveness. The
Gerson Therapy is one of the few treatments to have
a 60 year history of success.
Although its philosophy of cleansing and reactivating
the body is simple, the Gerson Therapy is a complex
method of treatment requiring significant attention
to detail. While many patients have made full recoveries
practicing the Gerson Therapy on their own, for best
results we encourage starting treatment at a Gerson
Institute licensed treatment center.
Please Note: The Gerson
Institute does not own, operate, or control any
treatment facility. We maintain a licensing program
with clinics to ensure that patients are receiving
true, 100% Gerson care. Be sure your clinic is
Gerson Institute Licensed to provide the Gerson
Therapy. Phone the Gerson Institute to discuss
how the Gerson Therapy can help you. We will be
happy to answer your questions. Within the U.S.
call 1-888-4GERSON, outside the U.S. please phone
619-685-5353.
The Gerson Therapy is a state of the art, contemporary,
holistic and natural treatment which utilizes the
body's own healing mechanism in the treatment and
cure of chronic debilitating illness. When it was
introduced to the world by Max Gerson, M.D., the
dietary therapy was so far ahead of its time that
there were almost no rationales available in the
scientific literature to explain how it could produce
cures in chronic as well as infectious diseases.
But, because it did cure many cases of advanced tuberculosis,
heart disease, cancer and numerous lesser conditions,
the Gerson Therapy was established as a major contribution
to the medical field, through the publication of
articles in peer reviewed medical literature. Gerson
first published on the topic of cancer in 1945, almost
forty years before the adoption of the current official
U.S. National Cancer Institute program on diet, nutrition,
and cancer.
Max Gerson treated many hundreds of patients and
continued to develop and refine his therapy up until
his death in 1959, at the age of 78. His most famous
patient was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, whom Gerson cured
of advanced diabetes when Schweitzer was 75. Schweitzer
returned to his African hospital, won the Nobel prize,
and worked past age 90. Schweitzer wrote "I
see in Dr. Gerson one of the most eminent geniuses
in the history of medicine."
It is rare to find cancer, arthritis, or other degenerative
diseases in cultures considered "primitive" by
Western civilization. Is it because of diet? The
fact that degenerative diseases appear in these cultures
only when modern packaged foods and additives are
introduced would certainly support that idea. Max
Gerson said "Stay close to nature and its eternal
laws will protect you." He considered that degenerative
diseases were brought on by toxic, degraded food,
water and air.
The Gerson Therapy seeks to regenerate the body
to health, supporting each important metabolic requirement
by flooding the body with nutrients from almost 20
pounds of organically grown fruits and vegetables
daily. Most is used to make fresh raw juice, one
glass every hour, 13 times per day. Raw and cooked
solid foods are generously consumed. Oxygenation
is usually more than doubled, as oxygen deficiency
in the blood contributes to many degenerative diseases.
The metabolism is also stimulated through the addition
of thyroid, potassium and other supplements, and
by avoiding heavy animal fats, excess protein, sodium
and other toxins.
Degenerative diseases render the body increasingly
unable to excrete waste materials adequately, commonly
resulting in liver and kidney failure. To prevent
this, the Gerson Therapy uses intensive detoxification
to eliminate wastes, regenerate the liver, reactivate
the immune system and restore the body's essential
defenses - enzyme, mineral and hormone systems. With
generous, high-quality nutrition, increased oxygen
availability, detoxification, and improved metabolism,
the cells - and the body - can regenerate, become
healthy and prevent future illness.
No treatment works for everyone, every time. Anyone
who tells you otherwise is not giving you the facts.
We know that when you have been diagnosed with a
life-threatening ailment, choosing the best strategy
for fighting your illness can be a bewildering task.
Everyone claims to have either "the best treatment", "the
fastest cure", or "the only therapy that
works." In most cases your trusted family physician
only has knowledge of conventional treatments, and
is either unaware of, or even hostile toward holistic
options. No matter how many opinions you receive
on how to treat your disease, you are going to make
the final decision on what to do, and you must be
comfortable with your decision. Choose a treatment
that makes the most sense to you.
Most therapies, conventional or alternative treat
only the individual symptoms while ignoring what
is ultimately causing the disease. The reason the
Gerson Therapy is effective with so many different
ailments is because it restores the body's incredible
ability to heal itself. Rather than treating only
the symptoms of a particular disease, the Gerson
Therapy treats the cause of the disease itself. Although
we feel the Gerson Therapy is the most comprehensive
treatment for disease, we don't claim it will cure
everything or everyone.
Although the Gerson Institute does not own or operate
any medical facilities, we do refer patients to clinics
which are fully licensed by the Gerson Institute
to provide the Gerson Therapy. Whether you plan to
follow the treatment on your own at home, would like
to schedule admittance to a clinic, or simply have
questions about the Therapy, we encourage you to
contact one of our client service representatives
at the Gerson Institute.
Caution: Do not start the Gerson Therapy without
the supervision of a Gerson practitioner if any of
the following conditions apply:
- Chemotherapy
- Diabetes
- Brain metastases
- Severe kidney damage
- Foreign bodies such as pacemakers, breast implants,
steel plates or screws.
Patients must be able to eat,
drink and eliminate normally.
The Gerson Therapy cannot
be administered to organ transplant recipients.
Juicing is an essential component of the Gerson
Therapy. To ensure reliable results, the Gerson patient
will need to purchase an appropriate juicer. Dr.
Gerson's research indicates that cancer patients
must have a two- stage juicer with a separate grinder
and hydraulic press. One-step juicers generally do
not produce the same quality of enzyme, mineral or
micronutrient content, and some patients have failed
to experience results simply by using the wrong juicer.
We do not recommend the use
of any centrifugal-type juicers for Gerson patients.
Other non-centrifugal juicers may be used for health
maintenance or non-cancer diagnoses.
Sometimes there are some used juicers for sale for
a discounted price. If you're interested, you can
try to contact Richard Boger at (760) 436-9684; he
is the Norwalk distributor and occasionally has some
used machines available.
The Gerson diet is naturally high in vitamins, minerals,
enzymes, micro-nutrients, extremely low in sodium
and fats, and rich in fluids.
The following is a typical daily diet for a Gerson
patient on the full therapy regimen:
- Thirteen glasses of fresh, raw carrot/apple and
green-leaf juices prepared hourly from fresh, organic
fruits and vegetables.
- Three full vegetarian meals, freshly prepared
from organically grown fruits, vegetables and whole
grains. A typical meal will include salad, cooked
vegetables, baked potatoes, vegetable soup and
juice.
- Fresh fruit and fresh fruit dessert available
at all hours for snacking, in addition to the regular
diet.
All medications used in connection with the Gerson
Therapy are classed as biologicals, materials of
organic origin that are supplied in therapeutic amounts.
- Potassium compound
- Lugol's solution
- Vitamin B-12
- Thyroid hormone
- Injectable Crude Liver Extract
- Pancreatic Enzymes
- Enemas of coffee and/or chamomile
A very important part of the Gerson Therapy is frequent
detoxification of the tissues and blood. This is
accomplished through a variety of means, first and
foremost through the use of coffee enemas.
The scientific basis for the use of coffee enemas
is well documented, and can be obtained from the
Gerson Institute. Patients report that the enemas
decrease pain and hasten healing. Biologically, enzyme
systems of the gut wall and liver are stimulated,
and bile flow is increased. This has been shown to
enhance the body's ability to eliminate toxic residues
from environmental, chemotherapeutic, and other sources.
Tumor and other diseased tissue is also more rapidly
eliminated as it is broken down.
Other means of detoxification include castor oil, used as an additional stimulant
of bile flow and as another way to enhance the liver's ability to filter blood.
In addition, digestive enzymes serve to enhance absorption of nutrients as
well as assist in the elimination of damaged tissue.
Patients must have a complete understanding of the
Gerson Therapy so that they may effectively continue
the regimen at home after leaving the treatment center.
The following are examples of educational opportunities
at a typical licensed Gerson facility:
- Gerson-trained physicians and/or educators present
lectures and instruction on healing reactions and
medication uses.
- Charlotte Gerson and/or other senior Gerson Institute
staff members lecture on the theory and practice
of the Gerson Therapy, scientific rationales and
relevant research.
- Instruction and demonstration of two-piece,
press-type juicers, such as the Norwalk and
K&K.
- Videotapes of lectures by Charlotte Gerson, other
Gerson Institute staff, and Gerson-trained physicians
are available for viewing at any time.
- Regular, individualized consultation with your
Gerson physician on the specifics of your condition
and any necessary modifications to the treatment.
During this time, any specific questions you have
may be addressed.