The role of your cancer health professional is to create an environment of openness and trust, and to help in making informed decisions about alternative/ complementary therapies. Collaboration will improve the safe integration of all therapies during your experience with cancer. The "Summary" and "Professional Evaluation/ Critique" sections of this Unconventional Therapies manual are cited directly from the medical literature, and are intended to help in the objective evaluation of alternative/complementary therapies.
Summary
"No study published in the peer-reviewed literature has indicated any beneficial effect of this diet." (Spencer)
Description/ Source /Components
"Gerson therapy is only available at the Gerson Institute in Tijuana, Mexico." (Ontario)
"Dietary regimen included no sodium; no fat; little animal protein; high potassium; rich carbohydrate sources; lots of fluids; dehydrated, defatted liver capsules; and injections of raw liver extract." (CA)
"...the Gerson diet is essentially vegetarian. Raw-liver juice, formerly part of the therapy, was abandoned by contemporary Gerson therapists in 1989 because of contaminants found in much commercially available liver. Each patient is given about twenty pounds of fruit and vegetables a day, typically consumed in the form of pure carrot and apple juices." (Cassileth)
"Enemas, including coffee enemas, on a regular basis were recommended." (National Cancer Institute)
"Some patients are also given castor-oil enemas and oral and/or rectal hydrogen peroxide and rectal ozone treatment. Forbidden foods include salt, oil, berries, nuts, drinking water and all bottled, canned, refined, preserved and processed foods. No aluminum utensils are used, and juices must be pressed." (Weitzman)
"Patients entering the clinic are asked to sign a form acknowledging that the facility makes no claims assuring cures of the medical conditions treated, including cancer." (CA)
History
Dr. Max Gerson created this therapy in 1945 based on the belief that cancer patients have a sodium and potassium imbalance in their body. (CA) (Ontario)
Dr. Gerson died in 1959. The therapy is continued by his daughter, Charlotte Gerson Strauss. (Barrett) (CA)
Proponent/ Advocate Claims
Supporters believe that the diet helps to restore the proper functioning of the cells and that "cancer can only be cured if toxins are eliminated from the body." (Ontario) (Hafner)
"'Cancer is not a single cellular problem; it is an accumulation of numerous damaging factors combined in deteriorating the whole metabolism, after the liver has been progressively impaired in its functions.' This slow poisoning of the entire organism, a lowering of the electrical activity in vital organs, and the weakening of the liver, the prime organ of detoxification, creates a 'cancerous body that is anergic,' says Dr. Gerson." (Diamond)
"Some diets do not provide enough energy and nutrients." (Ontario)
"The enemas are claimed to stimulate the excretion of bile from the liver and rid the body of toxins. Meals with predominantly natural and organically grown foods, plus nutritional supplements, are eaten to strengthen the immune system." (Cassileth)
"Gerson therapy was based on the view that malignant growths result from metabolic dysfunction within cells. This was to be countered by diet and detoxification... Gerson believed also that an imbalance between sodium and potassium in each cell also contributed to the development of cancer. Therefore, his therapeutic diet excludes sodium and provides abundant potassium." (Cassileth)
"Gerson felt that, in order to be healed, the body needed to be 'detoxified' with agents that rendered it hypersensitive to abnormal substances (including bacilli and cancer cells), which the body will then eliminate. The more malignant the cells the more effective the therapy." (Weitzman)
The clinic claims to "cure half of the patients who have a month to live, and 90 percent of patients with any early cancer. However, no data have been made public." (Barrett)
Professional Evaluation/ Critique
"In conclusion, it appears that the Gerson diet, by itself, does not result in cure for any type of cancer, but that the diet (and this is probably true for any of the alternative therapies) may act as an adjunct to conventional cancer treatment, allowing for greater well-being and quality of life." (Weitzman)
"In 1989, British researchers visited the Gerson clinic and conducted a best-case review plus a psychological study of patients at the clinic. The researchers concluded that while a small number of patients showed improvements there was no evidence that the Gerson therapy provided significant physical benefit." (CA) (Reed)
Toxicity/ Risks
"Patients may suffer flu-like feelings, loss of appetite, perspiration with strong odor, weakness, dizziness, cold sores, and fever blisters" while receiving the treatment. "Tumor masses may become painful, and patients may experience high fever, intestinal cramping, diarrhea, and vomiting." (CA)
"Continued use of enemas, for example, will cause the colon's normal function to weaken, worsening problems with constipation. Coffee enemas remove potassium from the body and could cause potentially fatal electrolyte imbalances." (Cassileth)
"Serious infections and deaths from electrolyte imbalance due to the use of coffee enemas have been reported." (CA) (Ontario)
"Dr. Gerson himself reported some deaths due to liver damage." (Hafner)
The use of raw calf liver juice "has led to infections with Campylobacter fetus, an organism living in the intestinal tract of cattle and sheep. Several such infections have proved fatal." (Hafner)
"Between 1980 and 1986, at least 13 patients treated with the Gerson therapy were admitted to San Diego-area hospitals with Campylobacter fetus sepsis, which was believed to be caused by the liver injections. None of the patients was cancer free, and one died of his malignancy within a week. Five were comatose due to low serum sodium." (CA) (Barrett)
Costs
"The therapy costs approximately $4,000 U.S. per week plus $200 U.S. or more per week for laboratory testing." A companion is recommended to accompany the patient for additional $330 U.S. per week. (Ontario, 1994)
The all-inclusive cost to receive therapy at the Gerson Institute in Tijuana is $4,500 U.S. per week. (Fink, 1997)
References
Barrett S, Cassileth BR, editors. Dubious cancer treatment. Tampa, Florida: American Cancer Society, Florida Division, 1991:58-59.
CA (Anonymous). Questionable methods of cancer management: 'Nutritional' therapies. CA: a Cancer Journal for Clinicians 1993 Sept/Oct;43(5):309-319.
Cassileth BR. Alternative medicine handbook: the complete reference guide to alternative and complementary therapies. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1998:186-188.
Diamond WJ, et al. An alternative medicine definitive guide to cancer. Tiburon, California: Future Medicine Publishing, Inc., 1997:772.
Fink JM. Third Opinion - An international directory to alternative therapy centers for the treatment and prevention of cancer & other degenerative diseases. Garden City Park, New York: Avery Publishing Group, 1997:79-80.
Hafner AW, editor. Reader's guide to alternative health methods. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: American Medical Association, 1993:296-299.
National Cancer Institute. Gerson Therapy. Cancer Facts 1990 Mar 30.
Ontario Breast Cancer Information Exchange Project. Guide to unconventional cancer therapies. 1st ed. Toronto: Ontario Breast Cancer Information Exchange Project, 1994:101-104.
Reed A, James N, Sikora, K. Mexico: juices, coffee enemas, and cancer. Lancet 1990 Sept 15;336(8716):677-678.
Spencer JW, Joseph JJ. Complementary/alternative medicine: an evidence based approach. Toronto: Mosby, 1999:142.
Weitzman S. Alternative nutritional cancer therapies. Int J Cancer 1998;11(Suppl):69-72.
Revised February 2000