The Gerson therapy is entirely drug free treatment and uses only organic vegetables and coffee enemas. The treatment has had documented sucesses but does come under regular questioning from the medical establishment.

So who was Gerson?  Dr Max Gerson (18 October 1881–8 March 1959) was born to a Jewish family in Posen and took a career in medicine. In the early years of the 20th century he was looking to relieve Migraines by omitting sodium from the diet. This had an unexpected side effect, he found that he cured a patient of Lupus, an auto immune disease. To prove his  theory trials were conducted on a number of sufferers in an Austrian hospital.  As the trial was nearing completion there was no improvement in the patients.  The consultant  in charge was perplexed, and one day wandered down to see the men. In the corridor he met a nurse bearing a  tray laden with sausages and spicy food. “Where are you going with that” he asked.   She replied that it was going to the poor half starved men at the end of the corridor!  The trial was re-conducted, but with stricter controls, and was a success.

One of Dr Gerson’s notable successes was the treatment of Dr Albert Schweitzer MD, at the age of 75 he had diabetes, Gerson cured him, again by diet.  Dr. Schweitzer lived and worked in Africa a further 15 years, and gained a Nobel prize for his work. Dr Schweitzer said of Dr Gerson “I see in Dr Gerson one of the most eminent geniuses in the history of medicine.”

When Dr Gerson moved to the USA he continued his experiments with diet.   He had success in the treatment of Cancer.  Unfortunately and rather sadly he gave an interview to the press about his findings.  That meant he lost his job at the hospital, and he was banned from treating cancer patients. In the USA it is a grave offense to treat cancer patients unless the standard treatments were carried out, diet  was equal to quackery!

Dr Gerson was forced to quit the country, and so he moved over the border into Mexico where he could carry on his treatments.

It has to be said that his treatment was exacting and harsh, but no more so than the conventional treatment of the day. The magic ingredient was the humble carrot.   Hourly the patient was given a glass of freshly juiced carrots. The second and controversial part of the treatment was the coffee enema.

Why coffee? Dr Gerson found that the coffee drew the toxins out of the body, and a perfectly clean body would greatly aid the healing.

From the point of view of the mainstream medical profession, the belief was that Dr Gerson was preying on the unwary and foolish by peddling his carrot and coffee cure.

However many people did go through with the treatment and survived. Most notably was Beata Bishop, who after bouts of conventional treatment in London decided to make the journey to Mexico for the Gerson Therapy. She describes in her inspirational book ‘A Time to Heal’ what it was like to undergo the treatment way back in 1981.  There were folk who gave up, but she persevered, and now promotes and lectures on the therapy.

Another high profile success story was that of Professor Gearin Tosh of Oxford University.   He lived for 11 years after the treatment, and died of something other than cancer. His story appeared in the British broad sheet newspapers, and also  his book Living Proof: A Medical Mutiny.

The therapy has moved on, no longer quite so Spartan, but still based on hourly vegetable juices and coffee enemas, and it is essential that organic produce is used.

It is a fact that whilst the producers of fruit and vegetables are growing their crops with the acceptable allowances of pesticides and herbicides, these build up into a cocktail of chemicals which are very damaging to the human body. Of course it is more expensive to purchase the organic produce, but if you are fighting for your life, and wish to go down this route, then organic it has to be.

Gradually and steadily over a number of years there has been an understanding that fruit and vegetables are a vital part of the daily diet for good health.   Not so long ago a new doctor completing his course at medical school would have had a few hours dedicated to the study of diet.   It was not thought to  be in any way relevant.   Not so now.   The World Health Organization promotes the value of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Governments advise that the  the idea of ‘Five a Day’ to keep healthy  Supermarkets too are playing their part in making available this produce.

Beata Bishop to her delight discovered that not only had she rid herself of cancer but many of the degenerative problems that she suffered from had also disappeared.  Her health was better all round.

Many private clinics offer the Gerson treatment, and will be found on the Internet.

It could of course be carried out at home, but a great network of support is necessary.

If you are undergoing conventional treatment, then supplementing the radiotherapy and the chemo with the vegetables would certainly be a help, providing that the vegetables could be tolerated.

The Gerson Therapy is one way to help yourself also to be considered are emotional issues, to be covered in later posts.

Alternative Views

The wikipedia entry for Max Gerson states that “Gerson’s therapy has not been independently tested or subjected to randomized controlled trials, and thus is illegal to market in the United States.”  You may wish to read wider than this post before you consider any such treatment.

Related Sites

http://www.gersonmiracle.org/

Max Gerson – Wikipedia

US National Cancer Institute – Gerson