The innocent public has been the loser , as
industrialists and other environmental polluters have found new ways to
suppress people’ s immunity , inhibit their enzymes, and kill them with
myriad cancer -causing agents (at last count over 52,000 unnatural
substances). Today , a minimum of forty-nine stressors exist, which
contribute to acute or chronic physical, mental, and emotional deterioration
(see Table 1-1  on pages 19-20). Although Dr. Gerson was the first to identify these stressors, his insights
have been consistently ignored by conventional oncologists. The result is
that patients attended by these wrongheaded cancer specialis ts and their
various followers have paid the price of the oncology group’ s ongoing error . Patients coming  under their care then experience serious disabilities and
death. Quite simply , incorrect allopathic cancer treatments have been
employed for almost a half century to attack tumors without correcting the
underlying causes that initially stimulate their development. THE MULTIPLE  “H ITS” OF PRECURSOR  CARCINOGENS
While the potential of forty-nine (or more) cancer -causing precursors
exists, if an individual avoids being “hit” by most of them it’s possible that
symptomatic cancer won’ t deve lop in his or her lifetime. However , since
one out of three (approaching one out of two) North Americans orEuropeans do currently come down with cancer , the odds are high that
malignancy in some form will strike you or a loved one. According to the multiple-hit theory , all cancers arise from at least two
changes or “hits” to cellular genes. These double hits build up and interact
over time. Eventually , a breaking point is reached (the proverbial “straw
that broke the camel’ s back”) and cancerous growth is switched on. The hits
will likely come  from one of the precursor carcinogens we have cited in
Table 1-1 . TABLE 1-1
Everyda y Factors That Contribute to the Rise of Cancer
Taken from the medical, scientiﬁc, and envir onmental literatur e as well as
from our everyday e xperiences, her e is the coauthors’ listing of forty -nine
predisposing, ceaseless, contributing factors as one or mor e sour ces of
cancer aﬀecting the human body’s ever -weak ening enzymatic, hor monal,
immunological, and other defense systems:7
1.Atmospheric cosmic rays and X rays
2.Sunlight’s ultraviolet rays
3.Chronic electr omagnetic ﬁeld e xposur e
4.Geopathic str ess
5.Sick building syndr ome
6.Ionizing radiation
7.Microwave oven radiation
8.Nonionizing electr omagnetic radiation fr om domestic appliances
9.Over head power lines
10. Nuclear radiation
11. Pesticide/herbicide r esidues12. Industrial to xins
13. Drinking or bathing in polluted water
14. Drinking or bathing in chlorinated water
15. Drinking or bathing in ﬂuoridated water
16. Tobacco and smoking
17. Hormonal therapies
18. Immune-suppr essive drugs
19. Consuming ir radiated foods
20. Ingesting food additives
21. Mercury to xicity fr om any sour ce
22. Toxic metal syndr ome
23. Dental amalgam ﬁllings
24. Dental r oot canals
25. Dental cavitations (jawbone spaces lef t by poor tooth e xtraction)
26. Dental metals of all types
27. Steady use of str eet drugs
28. Steady use of pr escription drugs
29. Steady use of nonpr escription drugs
30. Nerve interfer ence ﬁelds
31. Diet or nutritional deﬁciencies
32. Consumption of synthetic “ nonfoods”
33. Chronic physical or mental str ess
34. Destructive negative emotions35. Depr essed thyr oid action
36. Intestinal to xicity or digestive impair ment
37. Parasites
38. Viruses
39. Bacterial infections
40. Fungal infections
41. Block ed deto xiﬁcation pathways
42. Free radical pathology
43. Cellular o xygen deﬁciency
44. Adverse cellular ter rain
45. Oncogenes (cellular genes that change nor mal cells into cancer)
46. Genetic pr edisposition
47. Miasm (ener gy residues of pr evious illnesses)
48. Physical ir ritants, e.g., asbestos
49. Alcohol consumption
Most critical are the number and types of carcinogenic hits, their
frequency , and their intensity . Some of the carcinogen hits are cancer
“initiators” while others are cancer “promoters.”8
Any of the precursor carcinogens (often referred to by oncologists as
procarcinogens ) can be a tumor initiator or a promoter . Potentially
cancerous changes begin in a damaged cell’s DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
after the second devastating procarcinogenic hit. Uncontrolled growth in a
damaged cell follows in due course, progressing to an eventually noticeable
malignant lesion with a mass or tumor that may invade other tissues.In the first step toward cancer development, initiation,  the
procarcinogenic hit may produce large numbers of toxic agents, known as
free radicals,  which set up a pathological process that damages the cell’s
DNA when the liver sets up an enzymatic reaction known as Phase One. This reaction causes the procarcinogen to convert into a full-fledged
carcinogen. Additionally , the liver produces Phase Two enzymes to cart off
the dang erous residue that Phase One enzymes leave behind. The liver
plays a vital role in the process of cancer formation, simultaneously
initiating carcinogenesis and neutralizing it. In the second step toward cancer formation, promotion,  the liver’s
neutralization may not be up to par and a damaged cell alters its pattern of
mitosis (normal cell division). It begins to divide voluminously . That is
when the immune system goes to work, recognizing these cells as foreign
and destroying them; if it fails, however , the damaged cell can spawn a
tumorous lesion. In the third step toward a full-blown cancer , progression,  the tumor
attempts to build itself a blood  supply for sustained nourishment. Then
tumorous invasi on of surrounding tissues may take place. Clusters of cancer
cells tend to release certain essential growth factors that promote the
development of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis .9
TABLE 1-2THE GERSON  DIETARY THERAPY FOR  FIFTY-TWO ILLNESSES
Each of the factors listed in Table 1-1 that can contribute to cancer or
other acute and chronic debilitating illnesses may be successfully prevented
or treated with dietary interven tions. Certain foods fight off cancer and
other degenerative diseases or bring about their physiological reversal. Every food component incorporated into the Gerson Therapy is effective
against a great variety of physical and mental pathological conditions. To date, nearly ten thousand patients have benefited from the Gerson
dietary treatment of life-threaten ing illnesses. Many of these success stories
are described in the Gerson Institute’ s bimonthly Gerson HealingNewsletter . Here is a sample of the several hundred health problems agains t
which the Gerson Therapy has shown verified, permanent ef fectiveness:
In the next chapter, we present the childhood and other background
information on Dr. Max Gerson to let you know who Max Gerson was and
where he came from. You will discover that he really did have the
credentials for teaching us the exquisite arts of producing healing and
achieving health. References for Chapter One
1
Baker , S.M. Detoxification and Healing: The Key to Optimal Health. New Canaan, Conn.: Keats Publishing, 1997, p. 157. 2
Ibid.,  p. 158. 3
DeVita, V.T. “Foreword” in Nixon, D.W. and Zanca, J.A. The Cancer
Recovery Eating Plan. New Y ork: T imes Books, 1994, pp. v , vi. 4
“Gerson’ s cancer treatment,” editorial. Journal of the American Medical
Association  132:645-646, November 16, 1946. 5
Walker , J.; W alker , M. Think and  Grow Thin. New Y ork: Arco Publishing
Co., 1973. 6
Diamond, W.J. ; Cowden, W. Lee. With Goldber g, B. An Alternative
Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer . Tiburon, Calif.: Future Medicine
Publishing, Inc., 1997, pp. 518, 519. 7
Ibid. 8
Dollinger , M.; Rosenbaum, E.H.; Cable, G. Everyone’ s Guid e to Cancer
Therapy: How Cancer Is Diagnosed, Treated, and Managed Day to Day. 3rd edition. Kansas City, MO. : Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1997, pp. 6, 7. 9Cowley , G. with Underwood, A.; Springen, K.; Davis, A. “Cancer and
diet: Eating to beat the odds: what you need to know .” Newsweek,
November 30, 1998, pp. 60-66. OceanofPDF .comChapter Two
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF DR. MAX GERSON
Max Gerson was born in Wongrow itz, Germany , on October 18, 1881. He
was the third child and second boy in a German-Jewish family of nine
healthy children. Early on, he exhibited an inquiring mind. For instance,
when Max was six and a half years old, he wondered what would happen if
the fertilizers were changed in the flowerbeds of his mother ’s garden, and
he therefore carried out exper iments. The lad’s crude attempts at soil
alterations generally resulted in the death of her flowers so, naturally , his
mother quickly stopped Max’ s curiosity as to changing her plants’ soil
nutrition. When the young man was ready to graduate from high school (called
Gymnasium  in Germany), it was required that all students pass a written
mathematics examination. Max’ s graduation test contained a math problem
of a type that he did not remember ever having seen. Yet he proceeded to
set up an equation and find an answer to this very difficult problem. His
teacher had never before seen such an intricate solution and couldn’ t judge
it to be right or wrong. For a determination, the student’ s paper needed to be
sent to a famous  mathematics professor teaching at the Universi ty of Berlin. The answ er came back that Max had produced an entirely new and original
solution; that here was a mathematical genius, and the young man should
absolutely study mathematics. Upon his graduation from Gymnasium,  a family council was called, and
Max’ s future was placed before  his parents and siblings. Noting that there
was no Jewish mathematics professor throughout Germany , it was agreed
that, should Max study mathematics, he would never be more than a simple
high school math teacher . Everyone—including the new graduate himself—
agreed that he should study medicine instead.EDUCA TION OF A  HEALER
Max Gerson attended the universities of Breslau, Wuerzbur g, Berlin, and
Freibur g for his medical studies. In 1907, he completed his internship in
Hoechst, Main, and subsequentl y worked as an assistant to Professor Albert
Frankel, M.D., in Berlin. From 1909 until the beginning of the First World
War, he worked in Berlin in the Friedrichshain Hospital with Professor
Kronig and Professor Borottau, and for a short period at the children’ s clinic
with Professor Minkowsky . As a captain in the German Army Medical Corps, Dr. Gerson was a close
associate for almost half a decade of the prominent neurosur geon Ottfried
Foerster , M.D. In 1928, ten years after establishing his own practice in
Bielefeld in 1919, Dr. Gerson treated three hopelessly ill people suffering
with cancer. One of them was dying from inoperable stomach cancer . Even
surprising the diet’s developer , all three recovered and went on to tell
numerous other cancer patients that successful treatment was at hand. Still,
because Dr. Gerson recognized that some degenerative disease patients
would recover and some would not, he was careful as to whom he gave the
Gerson Therapy in the next ten years. In 1933,  barely escaping from capture and imprisonment in a Nazi death
camp because he was Jewish, Dr. Gerson moved his family first to Vienna,
Austria, where he completed his book on tuberculosis. In 1938, he was able
to emigr ate with his family to New York City. He passed the New York
State board examinations for medicine and opened a medical practice on
Park Avenue. He continued to develop his therapy to achieve success with
all types of serious health difficulties, especially cancer . The physician
treated hundreds of patients given up to die after receiving surgery and
radiation (chemotherapy had not yet been invented). After these years of
study and resear ch, the Gerson Therapy brought really sick people up to a
50 percent rate of recovery for even far advanced cancer cases. (After
chemotherapy was introduced into oncology , Dr. Gerson’ s natural healing
success rate in patients thus treated was reduced.) In 1946, Dr. Gerson became the first physician to demonstrate recovered
cancer patients before a United States Senate committee, which was holding
hearings on a bill to find means  of curing and preventing cancer under the
sponsorship of Senator Claude Pepper . The American Medical
Association’ s lobbyists who supported surgery, radiation, andchemotherapies were too well financed, however , and they caused the
Senate bill’s defeat by four votes. If it had passed, this Senate bill would
have supported extensive research into the Gerson Therapy and could have
spread this cure for cancer in 1946. PHYSICIAN , HEAL THYSELF : GERSON’S  FIRST DISCOVERIES
While he was a university student, Max Gerson was plagued by a major
health problem: he suffered from exceedingly severe migraine headaches,
which continued throughout his under graduate years. By the time Max was a medical resident, these headaches  were so
disabling and frequent that he sometimes spent three days a week in a
darkened room, experiencing nausea, vomiting, eye sensitivity , and awful
one-sided head pain which felt as though his cranium were splitting in two. He soug ht counsel from his medical professors only to find that they
couldn’ t help in any way. Rather , they advised him “to learn to live with it.”
The young physician felt he couldn’t accept such suffering and would have
to find an answer for himself. Max embarked upon a search. He read numerous books and medical
papers and consulted with many authorities, but found no direction. Finally
he came upon a case report in an Italian medical journal abou t a woman
who had suffered from migraines and found relief by changing her diet. No
details were given, but the idea made sense to Dr. Gerson. The severe
spasms with nausea and vomiting that were affecting him, the young doctor
concluded, could well be caused by some foods he was unable to digest. Now he had to discover what they where. His first though t was that every baby can digest cow’ s milk; his body
should be able to handle it as well. Therefore, he lived on nothi ng but milk
for the next ten days. His migraines nevertheless showed no improvement
—no change whatsoever . Then it occurred to him that animals never drink
milk once they are weaned. Moreover , a human’ s physical structure is
similar to that of vegetarian animals. This being true, Max’ s thinking went,
people with health problems should probably live on fruit, vegetables, and
grains. He tried an all-apple diet—raw  and baked apples, applesauce, apple
juice, apple compote—and he became well, with no migraines. Slowlythereafter , one food following another , he added other edibles. If something
eaten wasn’t right for his body , it could cause him a sensitivity reaction,
taking the form of migraine in as little as twenty minutes. GERSON’S  “M IGRAINE  DIET”
When he experienced further sensitivity problems from consuming
cooked foods, Dr. Gerson hypot hesized that the culprit was not the cooking
process but rather the addition of salt. Upon his eliminating salt from his
diet, Max was able to eat not only cooked foods but also any kind of
vegetables, potatoes, grains, and so on. He named this new program of
eating, which kept him free of head pain disturbances, his “mig raine diet.”
It was predicated on the ingestion of fresh fruits and vegetables, mostly raw
but some cooked, and totally free of salt. Gerson decided that salt was the
source of pathology connected with diet. In time, patients would come to him complaining of migraines. Although
there was no cure according to the textbooks, Gerson revealed  that he had
been suffering from migraines himself until he had developed and followed
his antimigraine, saltless diet. The young physician would then suggest that the patient try it out. Invariably , migr aine patients following his eating program would return for
a follow-up consultation and report that they were free of headaches as long
as they didn’ t “cheat” on the Gerson eating program. When they began
eating salt again, they would suf fer a relapse. Skin T uber culosis Is Eliminated by the Gerson Therapy
One of Dr. Gers on’s patients returned after remaining on the antimigraine
diet for a short period and reported that his skin tuberculo sis, known
medically as lupus vulgaris, had disappeared along with his migraines. The
new practitioner  told his patient  that lupus was an “incurable” disease and
that the skin problem must have come from something else. This lupus
vulgaris patient, however , possessed bacteriological studies proving his
diagnosis. Thus, for the first time in the history of medicine, Dr . Gerson saw
skin tuberculosis healing from treatment.Combined with the patient’ s diagnostic reports, the young doctor could
hardly believe his eyes, but he soon became convinced that his migraine
diet was helpful  in the treatment of tubercular skin. He asked the patient if
he knew  others suffering from the same problem. Yes, the patient replied,
and he sent Dr. Gerson some of his tubercular friends from the hospital
where he had been confined. After some weeks elapsed, these tuberculosis
patients also recovered on Dr . Gerson’ s antimigraine eating plan. News of Dr . Gerson’ s success with lupus vulgaris came to the attention of
Professor Ferdin and Sauerbruch, M.D., the world-famous lung tuberculosis
specialist who practiced in Munich. After conducting long discussions on
dietary concepts  with Dr. Gerson, Prof. Sauerbruch decided to set up a
clinical trial using the Gerson Therapy . During an extended period, the
professor treated 450 “incurable” skin tuberculosis patients using Dr.
Gerson’ s metho d. Of these subjects, 446 recovered fully; Dr. Sauerbruch
was deeply impressed. The renowned lung specialist reports on this
successful Gerso n dietary trial and its positive results in his autobiography ,
Master Sur geon. Dr. Gerson was not satisfied to let the situation rest there. He reasoned
that if lupus vulgaris could be healed with diet, why not other forms of
tuberculosis, such as lung, kidney , or bone TB? He started to treat such
cases and found  that they too responded to the dietary therap y and were
cured. One of the lung TB cases was Albert Schweitzer ’s wife, Helene,  who had
contracted tuberculosis at an early age in the tropics and was in terminal
condition when she was brought to see Dr. Gerson by her husband. Mrs.
Schweitzer recovered from her disease completely and went on to live well
into her eighties. During the course of treating these various migraine and tuberculosis
cases, Dr. Gerso n found that many of the patients had been suffering from
other problems, too: high blood pressure, asthma, allergies, kidney damage,
arthritis, residua l stroke, hardening of the arteries, and more. These acute or
chronic degene rations also disappeared. Unquestionably , the Gerson
Therapy worked toward correcting almost any degenerating illness. Thus, Dr. Gerson recognized that he was no longer treating a disease; he
was helping the body to heal itself of nearly all dysfunctions. Of course, this
meant that he was no longer treating symptoms but the patient’ s underlyingproblem; he was taking a completely different direction from the usual
approach of orthodox medicine: the suppression of symptoms. Sodium/Potassium Balance as a Metabolic Healing Pr ocedur e
In the course of his work with tuberculosis patients, Dr. Gerson  realized
that one of the basic problems of disease was the loss of potassium from
tissue cells and the penetration of sodium into the cells (known in medicine
as tissue damage syndr ome or TDS). The cell, in attempting to maintain its
integrity , binds the toxic sodium material with water . Such a circumstance
for the sick patient is recognized as edematous fluid r etention. Six years after Dr. Gerson’ s death, a 1965 medical textbook coauthored
by Dixo n and Webb titled Enzymes  gave further evidence of the problems
caused by sodium penetration. The book confirmed Dr. Gerson’ s initial
findings. These two authors studied how the body builds enzymes, and they
reported that, in most cases, potassium behaves like a catalyst (an activating
substance) in the formation of enzymes. Sodium, on the other hand, usually
acts as an inhib itor, or blocking substance. Thus, with the penetration of
sodium into the cell, and therefore into tissues, enzyme function  is inhibited
and the normal tissue activity becomes disturbed or at worst, blocked. While a minimu m of sodium is needed by the body for normal function,
this inorganic substance is also considered to be an extracellular  mineral,
since it must remain outside of body cells in their fluids. Potassium is the
intracellular  mineral, since it is needed for metabolism within body cells. When the extracellular/intracellular balance is disturbed, health problems
start from damage to the cells. In normal vegetarian nutrition, plant material
of all kinds contains quite adequate amounts of sodium to satisfy our needs. The problem is that, in the course of canning, bottling, preservin g, freezing,
and all other forms of food processing, as well as during the usual
procedure of cooking, potassium  is depleted and salt (sodium chloride) is
invariably added  to foods. Additions like these constitute an excess. The
body is normall y able to excrete excess sodium through the kidneys and
feces, but when it becomes overwhelmed daily , year after year, with huge
amounts of excess sodium, there comes a point when the body’ s ability to
excrete this excess is reduced  or lost. Now a person’ s many enzymesystems, his or her immune system, and eventually the liver, are damaged. The result is symptoms of illness and the creation of disease dysfunction. As we observed earlier , the first thing Dr. Gerson did was to eliminate all
added salt (sodium) from his own and his patients’ diet. He then added to
the patients’ salt-free vegetaria n diet a freshly pressed glass of organic
vegetable juice taken hourly , thirteen times a day. Additionally , the doctor
examined his patients’ urine and found that during the first week on this
treatment they often excreted from 6 to 8 grams of sodium in a day even on
a sodium-free diet! Following this salt-free program, the participating patients’ ankles and
legs lost their swelling (edema) and became normal once again; moreover ,
overabundant abdominal fluid (ascites) decreased as well. The patients
ridding themselves of so much burdensome fluid invariably excreted a great
deal of urine. Restoring the body’ s sodium/potassium tissue balance for his
patients became one of Dr. Gerson’ s key metabolic healing procedures. (Please see chapter 10 on the Gerson saltless diet for more detailed
information about the human body’ s sodium/potassium balance.) OUTSIDE  STRACERIES  AND DISEASE
Dr. Gers on discovered that more difficulties with illness develop as well
from outside stressors, before  the body’ s defenses break down. For
example, foods are raised in soil containing artificial fertilizers providing
only the three particular minerals: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
(symbolized by the initials N, P, and K). But normal plants require
something like fifty-two different chemicals for good health and strong
growth. Artificially fertilized soil, as is employed in truck farming, brings
nutritional deficiency to the plants growing on it. People, too, require these
fifty-two minera ls to be present  in foods. When they are not contained in
the soil and thus not in our foods, we become deficient in the same way that
our plants are lacking. Furthermore, plants, just like people, experience deficiency diseases and
lose their defenses. Then, fungal or viral diseases and insects move in to
destroy such weak and deficie nt plants, and farmers are forced to spray
them with fungicides, herbicides , and pesticides to avoid losing their crops. Thus, in agriculture worldwide, deficient and toxic commercially raisedfoods cause peoples’ bodies to become deficient, weakened, toxic, and
finally diseased. With this basic understanding as taught by Dr. Gerson, we may be able to
see how health breaks down. And this description of soil and plants does
not include additional damage we inflict on ourselves with cigarettes,
alcohol, antibiot ics, sleeping pills, pesticides, fungicides, herbi cides, over-
the-counter and doctor -prescribe d drugs, and much more (see chapter 1). It
becomes clear that, in order to reverse disease and restore health, we need
to detoxify and intensively flood the body with live, fresh, active nutrients. THE USE OF  COFFEE  ENEMAS FOR  WASTE  REMOV AL
Dr. Gerson further found that the cellular systems and body tissues also
excreted waste products accumulated over many years from the taking in of
poor air, bad water , food additives, viruses, germs, and other toxic items. In
order not to overload the liver, which filters these poisons out of the blood,
he found a way to open the bile ducts and help the liver to release the
body’ s accumulated poisons by means of his renowned cof fee enemas. He disco vered that, without such a waste-removing method, the liver was
unable to handle the toxic load escaping from all dysfunctional cells and
could be poisoned. In terminally ill cancer patients, Dr. Gerson observed
their toxicities to be so severe that he decided to apply such coffee enemas
as frequently as every four hours. The enemas worked as a primary means
of detoxification (for more information on cof fee enemas, see chapter 12). And his patients reported a welcome additional benefit: pain relief
quickly occurred  for them as their livers released cellular toxins . Therefore,
another big advantage of following the Gerson Therapy’ s sodium-free,
high-potassium detoxifying diet was that Dr. Gerson could discontinue
prescribing painkilling drugs almost at once! High blood pressure, too, usually came down in about five days, along
with discontinuation of blood pressure medication. Today , we see that the
patient’ s immun e system starts to function and, in some cases, a healing
fever develops. Fever can help to destroy tumor tissue and should not be
suppressed unless it goes way out of range (i.e., above 104.5°F). With all its defenses restored, the body is again capable of destroying
tumor tissue, breaking it down and excreting it. The most aggressive kindsof malignancies —melanomas, ovarian cancers, small-cell lung cancers,
agressive lymphomas—retreat the most rapidly . One can almost  watch them
melt away . Other , less aggressiv e tumors grow more slowly and retreat less
rapidly: the adenocarcinomas (breast cancer , prostate cancer, bone
metastases, etc.) disappear slowly but steadily . At the same time, the fat-
free diet, high in enzymes, also helps to dissolve atherosclerotic  plaque and
clear arteries, so that circulation  of the blood improves, as does respiration. Now we can understand why the whole body heals; whether we are seeing
patients with arthritis, emphysema, colitis, multiple sclerosis, high blood
pressure, heart disease, diabetes, or any other of the multitude of acute or
chronic degenerative diseases, the patients under go healing. VEGET ABLE  JUICE T O ENHANCE  THE ENEMAS
Dr. Gerson found that the basic problem underlying all chronic disease is
twofold: deficie ncy and toxicity . He clearly needed to address both these
problems in order to heal his patients. The deficiency was overcome by the
tremendous amount of nutrients available in the multiple vegetable juices,
given every hour , made from or ganically grown produce. Drinking such juices also helped  to flush out the kidneys; but they caused
the sick patients’ tissues to relea se accumulated toxins into the bloodstream. These toxins were filtered out by the liver, but so much poison was
burdening their livers with toxicity. Dr. Gerson realized that if he did not
help the body to remove these poisons rapidly , the liver becam e seriously
damaged and such released poisons could even cause liver coma. The
coffee enemas, given in the early stages as frequently as every  four hours,
relieved the liver and even, in most cases, relieved pain. As the patient continues to recover , the body dissolves tumor tissue. Toxins from this dead tissue are released into the bloodstream. At this time,
it is important to increase the coffee enemas. It often takes two to three
months before the number of coffee enemas can be reduced to three or four
daily . For over ten years now, coffee enemas have been more intensively
studied. For instance, Peter Lech ner, M.D., of the Second Surgical Division
of the Landeskrankenhaus in Graz, Austria, became interested in the Gerson
Therapy . He applied it to many of his outpatients and made some scientificstudies on how the coffee enemas work. Dr. Lechner writes in his clinical
report, “Coffee enemas have a definite effect on the colon which can be
observed with an endoscope. Moreover , Wattenber g and coworkers were
able to prove in 1981 that the palmitic acid found in coffee promotes the
activity of the enzyme, glutha thione s-transferase, and other ligands by
manifold times above the norm. It is this enzymatic group which is
responsible primarily for the conjugation of free electrophile radicals which
the gall bladder will then release.”
In patients with addictions (to nicotine in cigarettes, heroin, morphine,
cocaine, etc.) the frequent vegetable juices quickly help to overcome
cravings, while  the coffee enemas help to clear away any withdrawal
symptoms. Total healing for almost any degenerative condition is not complete until
the patient’ s liver and essentia l organ functions are all restored to full
normal activity . In most patients, healing like this takes at least two years on
the full Gerson therapeutic program, including the ingestion of thirteen
glasses of freshly made juices a day, organically grown vegetarian foods,
regular (but slowly decreasing) coffee enemas, and the taking of potassium
as well as digestive enzyme supplements. One recent patient, MB of Canton, California, suffered from widely
metastasized melanoma, had cataracts, and was unable to watch  TV or read
with or without glasses. Beside s these difficulties, MB was suffering from
advanced osteoa rthritis “in all her joints,” she said. Also the woman was
obese and suf fered from high blood pressure and diabetes. MB’s life was saved on the Gerson Therapy , supervised by her physician. When the melanoma was gone,  so were this patient’ s other problems: she
could read and watch TV, had good energy, and today at age eighty-four is
“working circle s” around other family members. Even her hearing has
improved to the point where the family believes that “she hears more than
she is supposed to.” MB no longer requires insulin to control her diabetes. NUTRITIONAL  SUPPLEMENTS T O TREA T MULTIPLE  HEAL TH PROBLEMS
Dr. Gerson helped his patient s’ damaged body functions by adding
certain digestive  enzymes, plus thyroid and iodine, to activate the immune
system against multiple health problems. Furthermore, because his patientswere so seriously depleted, he added potassium to an already high-
potassium diet. He also supported the patients’ livers with liver powder
capsules and liver injections and helped patients produce adequate red
blood cells with extra vitamin B12. It is important to note that with the full application of the Gerson
Therapy , all the body systems are restored to full function. Dr. Gerson’ s
healing program  is a total metabolic approach, not a single treatment for a
specific symptom of a disease. Many patients have multiple problems of illness associated with their
main life-threatening disability—cancer as well as diabetes, heart disease,
high blood pressure, arthritis, atherosclerosis with leg cramps, macular
degeneration, cataracts, and so on. When the body truly heals, all of these
types of health troubles involving overall physiological degeneration
disappear , not just a single disease entity . With true healing, one cannot heal
selectively—all medical difficulties improve steadily and finally go away
permanently . Charlotte Gerson cites the case of a patient who was suffering from
prostate cancer as well as regular kidney colics, high blood pressure, and
three herniated disks resulting in severe pain and atrophy of the thigh
muscle in his left leg. After two years on the Gerson Therapy , the man got
rid of all these problems. His prostate was clear; he had no more kidney
colics; without taking any drugs, his elevated blood pressure lowered to
normal and stayed there; and the damaged vertebral disks had re-formed,
thus allowing his thigh muscle s also to improve. He had been on total
disability due to his many health problems, but this patient returned to
completely normal activity . Following the Gerson Therapy  described over fifty years ago, people
become well in the same way in modern times. One patient, Mrs. GF, was told that her arteries were 90 percent clogged
and that she needed immediate coronary artery bypass sur gery, or she would
not see the weekend! She refused to under go the operation and traveled
instead to the Gerson Therapy hospital in Tijuana, Mexico. GF was in a
very dangerous situation, needi ng oxygen even to sleep, and was barely
able to walk across the room without assistance. But she followed the
Gerson Therapy faithfully both under hospital staff supervision and on her
own after returning home.Upon reexamining her two years later, the same doctor found that GF’s
arteries were 100 percent clear and she was able to function normally . He
claimed that some kind of medical miracle had taken place. WHY PHYSICIANS  HAVE FAILED T O TIE DIET T O DISEASES  BEFORE  NOW
It has taken organized allopathic medicine too long to appreciate the
connection between diet and degenerative diseases. Y et, recognizing that we
have lost the war on cancer , as stated in 1986 by John C. Baila r III, Ph.D.,
professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at McGill University in
Montreal, Canada,1 medical doctors and their patients have now altered
their thinking. Finally physician s have come to accept that diet is tied to
diseases of all types. Health professionals have had to hit upon nutritional therapy almost as a
last resort against degenerative diseases, especially for cancer . Treatment
using diet and nutrition is absolutely mandatory simply because too many
patients never get well with the applications of standard,  allopathic,
conventionally practiced medicine and oncology—the disease-oriented
medicine of orthodoxy . It is time to recognize diet as a powerful ally in the
healing process. Reference for Chapter T wo
1
Bailar , J.C.; Smith, E.M. “Progress against cancer?” New England
Journal of Medicine. 314:1226, 1986. OceanofPDF .comChapter Three
THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE GERSON THERAPY
So firmly founded on scientific principles of physiology and nutrition are
the thera peutic approaches deve loped by Max Gerson, M.D., to cancer and
other chronic illnesses, they remain just as clinically valid today as in their
earliest decade of establishmen t. One might come to believe that over a
span of almost seventy years, as new medical insights and clinical protocols
were uncovered, Dr. Gerson’ s method might have been superseded by other
treatments; yet this is not the case. The Gerson Therapy manages the body’ s potassium, sodium (salt),
protein, and water intake. In this chapter we offer an explanation of what
the Gerson biological (metabolic) concept means plus how and why it
works to promote healing. There definitely is a need for animal protein
restriction as the means for warding off degenerative diseases of all kinds. Required as well for reversal of cancer and other chronic diseases are
potassium supp lementation, acute sodium limitation, calorie  restriction,
protein sparing, and thyroid hormone addition. As any Gerson Therapy
participant knows well, coffee enemas are featured as a way to remove
circulating toxins and partial metabolites by dilating bile ducts and
cleansing the liver. Dr. Gerson believed that the liver is our most important
organ for maintaining the body’s biochemistry for health as well as
overcoming degenerative diseases, cancer in particular . Hyperalimentation, the medication of his therapy , utilizes vegetarian
foods, including raw fruit, well-cooked vegetables, salads, a special soup,
oatmeal, and vegetable juices. They are the hyperalimenting medications,
which have proven to be profoundly effective nutritionally , easily absorbed
also by a sick body , extremely complex molecularly , and exquisite materials
chemically . Ingesting them in quantity invariably restores health to an
unhealthy body and prevents ill health for a well-functioning one.Accordingly , this chapter is a preparation for utilizing the recipes of
chapter 22, which describes the cooking of those specific foods for enjoying
total wellness. Here we provide a full description of the biological basis for
incorporating the Gerson Therapy as your personal way of life. SUMMARIZING THE  BIOLOGICAL  BASIS OF THE  GERSON  THERAPY
Being an intensive treatment based on nutrition, designed to restore and
reactivate all the body systems, the Gerson Therapy particularly strengthens
one’s immune system, enzyme  system, and hormone system, along with
correcting the functioning of all essential organs. It brings the body into
homeostasis. The program’ s originator learned during the 1930s that in
chronic degener ative diseases most of the organ systems becom e damaged
and function poorly to the point of shutting down. He conclud ed that the
body’ s innate healing mechanism  eventually becomes inactive so that a
debilitated body loses its ability to fight the attacking disease and heal. Successful treatment for chronic illnesses requires full-bodied nutrition,
specifically , a sick person must eat organic vegetarian foods, all freshly
prepared. Also mandatory is the drinking of thirteen glasses of raw
vegetable juices  for their enzym atic effects. All foods must be free of added
salt and fats, with one specific exception: flaxseed oil (high in linoleic and
linolenic acids). Thus the damaged organ systems are flooded with living
nutrients, easily absorbed and able to enter the deficient tissues. Required
foods are high in potassium, which Dr. Gerson found to be lacking in
longtime ill persons. When active minerals and enzymes are restored to the tissues, these
nutrients release the excess sodium and toxins that have accumulated during
the course of years of faulty nutrition. It becomes imperative then to help
the body  (the liver in particular ) to filter out released toxins and get rid of
them. In order to achieve such a release and bring about detoxification, Dr.
Gerson discovered that caf feine given rectally definitely assists the liver and
its bile ducts to release their accumulated poisons into the intestinal tract for
elimination. Ozone given by rectal insuf flatio n is also very valuable since it increases
blood oxygenation, energy, and the ability of organ systems to function at
higher levels. Most patients residing in a Gerson-certified health carefacility such as the Oasis Hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, also inhale air
furnished by an ozone generator  operating in their rooms. The machine thus
provides patients with better oxygenation and overcomes antigen ic odors. A
similar ozone generator may be installed in the home. PHYSIOLOGICAL  UNIVERSALITY OF  THE GERSON  THERAPY
The basic philosophy of the Gerson Therapy—hypernutrition from whole
foods and detox ification—is universal for advantageous body functioning. As we have mentioned, such universality includes elimination of all toxic
materials—natural and synthetic—derived from any source of additives,
perfumes, cosmetics, flavorings, dyes, herbicides, fluoride, chloride,
metallic poisons , pesticide residues, cleaning agents, and as much of other
environmental pollutants as possible. The Gerson Therapy has to be adjusted for particular body breakdowns
with their resulting ailments and conditions, including candidiasis, diabetes,
colitis, ascites in terminal cancer patients, cardiovascular disease, and high
doses of chemotherapy , radiotherapy , prednisone, and other common drugs,
plus a myriad of additional difficulties. Often patients suffer from
infections, low-grade fevers, lack of appetite, pain, and many more
complications, some of them subclinical. All of these disabilities are
addressed individually and collectively during the course of administering
the Gerson program. For human physiology , the Gerson Therapy is
restorative and completely enhancing. Along with the basic nutrition and detoxification, certain food
supplements are also used to overcome deficiencies of vitamins, minerals,
hormones, enzy mes, and other physiological items. The limited  number of
Gerson Therapy nutritional supplements include a potassium compound,
digestive enzymes, thyroid hormone, iodine (Lugol’ s solution), vitamin B3
(niacin), and vitamin B12 (cobalamin), as well as injectable crude liver
extract and/or liver powder or tablets. These “medications” are also
adjusted to each patient’ s needs. HOW THE  GERSON  THERAPY  ALIGNS  WITH  CONVENTIONAL  TREA TMENTSA few of the treatments used in conventional medicine are compatible
with the Gerson Therapy , including hydrotherapy , oxygen, antibiotics, in
some cases radia tion, and certain surgical operations (as for gastrointestinal
tract blockage or the debulking of tumors). Surprisingly , perhaps, certain
other physical therapies such as deep massage, vigorous exercise, and
saltwater swimming are harmful. Chemotherapy is not encoura ged at all because it is highly toxic,
suppressive of the immune system, and sometimes palliative  but hardly
curative. Someone who under goes chemotherapy prior to adopting Dr.
Gerson’ s treatment starts off at a true immunological disadvantage. The
Gerson Therapy in no way advocates the use of cytotoxic chemicals for
killing off cancer cells because such chemicals frequently bring patients
closer to more serious illness and death. Yet numerous cancer patients pretreated with chemotherapy can still
respond positive ly to the Gerson approach. These people include especially
those suffering from ovarian cancer, lymphomas, kidney cancer , and some
of the glandular malignancies, such as breast and prostate cancer . For those
with pancreatic cancer , the Gerson Institute has seen a number of long-term,
total recoveries with the Gerson  Therapy (see chapter 21); however , we are
sorry to report that poor responses are likely to result for the pancreas-
cancer patient if chemotherapy was previously applied. The organ becomes
just too damaged by the cytotoxicity of chemicals applied. LONG-TERM SURVIVAL AND  SIDE EFFECTS
The largest body of evidence offering proof of the Gerson Therapy’ s
value was given in Dr. Gerson’ s original text, A Cancer Therapy : Results of
Fifty Cases , first published  in 1958. Even back then, almost all of his
patients had been biopsied prior  to starting the Gerson Therapy by different
accredited medical institutions around the United States. All but two of the
patients shown in this descriptio n of fifty cases were in terminal condition. They survived a minimum of five years; at least a dozen people have
remained alive for forty-five years from when they first began their Gerson
treatment plan. Since the Gerson Therapy has been promoted more and reestablished
during the last twenty years, numbers of documented cases of recoveredpatients have been assembled. You will read about three such situations in
chapter 21. Admittedly , the only cancer that has been documented
statistically with a retrospective analysis peer-reviewed and published in a
medical journal is malignant melanoma (see chapter 6). In other cancers,
the Gers on Institute records many individual recovered cases, all with prior
biopsies and long-term surviva l, but exact figures are still not available
because the Gerson Institute loses track of patients. They tend to stop
communicating and go on with their lives. But now the Gerson Institute’ s
Client Services  department has created a Patient Support Network to
provide a listing of fellow patients to those undertaking the treatment on
their own. Moreover , some Gerson Therapy Support Groups do exist in
Norcross, Geor gia, U.S.A.; Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.; Sutton, N.S.W ,
Australia; Warrandyte, V.I.C., Australia; Burlington, Ontario, Canada; and
England. There have been no untoward side effects from the use of the Gerson
Therapy . Dr. Gerson’ s recommended fresh organic foods and juices—his
medication consisting of only normal body substances and the cleansing
enemas—in no way cause bodily damage. Certain patients are not treatable:
those with or gan transplants, patients on dialysis, and patients who have had
essential organs removed. Some uninformed persons warn about
dehydration or another imagined  difficulty . They just don’t know  what they
are talking about. Such people are down on what they are not up on. In contrast, sometimes Gerson patients jokingly refer to certain “side
effects” of their program—the beneficial ones. These advantageous effects
include the clearing up of high blood pressure, elimination of arthritis, sight
restoration in glaucoma, self-correction of herniated disks, pulmonary
improvement in asthma, and many more betterments for health troubles. Please take note of the following double fact, which may seem obvious to
you after having read this book, but it’s something that uninformed persons
do not acknowledge:
• It is often impo ssible to heal a specific disease such as cancer while the
body continues to suffer from diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, and most
other chronic disturbances. • We see that eventually all the other afflictions also disappear when the
Gerson Therapy is utilized for healing cancer .MANAGING  POTASSIUM,  SALT, AND WATER INTAKE
Around every tumor or arthriti c joint, in most chronic viral conditions
such as genital herpes, and in other long-standing pathologies, the patients’
tissues which have lost potassium do gain sodium and swell with too much
water . Today it has been established in modern medicine that this is a
physiological fact. When he studied tuberculous infections, Dr. Gerson observed the same
phenomenon and recorded it in his published works. Around every
tubercular cavern and cavity he saw a puffy malfunctioning sphere of
adjacent tissue damaged by toxins escaping from the tuberculosis organism. Partial metabolites in the disease lesions cause difficulties because they are
merely waste material that continues with destructive processes when left in
place. Their presence upsets otherwise normal tissue so that it, in turn,
becomes damaged. By restricting sodium and subst ituting elevated amounts of potassium by
providing his patients with a fresh fruit and vegetable diet, Dr. Gerson was
able to bring about absorption of cellular edema. The patients’ swellings
disappeared by eliminating the tissue damage syndrome that surrounds not
only tubercular tissue but also tumor tissue. The Gerson Therapy, therefore, creates a physiological situation  in which
distressed cells slowly return to normal. What brings this about is the
unspiced low-sodium, high-potassium diet required by the Gerson Therapy . It works  therape utically—nothing else known in drug-oriented allopathic,
traditional Indian Ayurvedic, Central American shaman, traditional
Chinese, holistic, complementary and alternative, chiropractic,
naturopathic, homeopathic, or other form of medicine achieves this same
beneficial effect in damaged cells. We repeat, this diet developed by Max
Gerson, M.D., is a primary reason for the Gerson Therapy’ s efficaciousness
against cancer and other chronic illnesses. Gilbert Ning Ling, Ph.D., father  of the new cellular biology that’s based
on “dry”  physics rather than “wet” chemistry (which had previously been
the foundation of modern allopathic medicine), early in the 1970s, predicted
the value of a high-potassium, low-sodium nutritional intake for the
obliteration of chronic disease.1 Dr. Ling’ s research had evolved from Dr.
Gerson’ s original investigations and treatments, which he had employed,
first for the elimination of migraine headaches, and then for allergies,tuberculosis, and chronic diseases, and later adapted as his anticancer
program. Then another pioneering physician, the medical physicist and researcher
Freeman W. Cope, M.D., Ph.D., in 1978, uncovered evidence to prove that
Dr. Ling’ s association-induction hypothesis derived from the Gerson work
was correct. Dr. Cope demonstrated that cells are poisoned by any one of a
unifying set of occurrences which usually includes oxygen starvation, one
or more physical traumas, and/o r some type of chemical insult  such as the
toxic metal syndrome.2
No matter what is the tissue’ s origin of dysfunction, the same responses
occur in cells throughout any part of the body: first the damaged cell loses
most of its potassium, next it accepts an abundance of sodium, and finally it
swells with excessive water (to dilute the sodium). This bloated cell’s
required life-sus taining energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP),
created from the burning of sugar through oxidation, dissipates. Without
ATP the cell dies. Lose enough cells and the tissue dies. Experience a
dramatic drop in tissue substance and the organ dies. Lack a necessary
organ and the human being dies. In his two major published works, Dr. Cope informed physiologists about this pathologic occurrence. 3,4
About a decade ago, Dr. Cope’ s concept was proved to be true by the
additional medical research of the respected Mexican physiologist and
cardiologist Demetrio Sodi-Pa llares, M.D. Then Raymond Damadian,
M.D., inventor of the diagnostic device magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
confirmed that human cells behave more like ion exchange granules in a
water softener than like bags of water . Prior to Dr. Damadian’ s theory ,
medicine’ s idea of “cells as bags of water” had been the basis on which
almost all medical treatments were built (until now). But medic al science is
evolving. Going back chronologically , collectively , and in summary , Dr. Damadian,
Dr. Sodi-Pallare s, Dr. Cope, Dr. Ling, and Dr. Gerson have brought forth a
new medical foundation for why diseases become chronically degenerative
and how they may be reversed . The foundation developed by these five
medical scientists is that the cellular cytoplasm becomes latticed with a
protein-lipid macromolecule through which an electron current flows. Energy-storing ATP is complexed with this macromolecule, polarizing and
energizing it, to form many interactive, cooperative association  sites whichprefer potassium over sodium. Give the sick cell potassium, and it gets well. Then restrict animal protein, and it becomes even healthier . PROTEIN  RESTRICTION
With the aim of ridding damaged body cells of more sodium, Dr. Gerson
eliminated animal protein from  the patient’ s diet—at least for a period of
six or eight weeks. He caused the condition of sodium outflood-ing (what
he named “Natrium Ausschuss ”) so that the detrimental mineral poured out
of the body in its urine waste. That way, edema gets absorbed by the cells,
tissues, and or gans. In the context of Dr . Ling’ s modern work on biophysics,
Dr. Gers on’s healing procedure is absolutely correct. During studies that he
conducted in Egypt, Robert Good, M.D., former director of the Sloan-
Kettering Institu te for Cancer Research, showed that the Gerson method of
protein restriction tends to stimulate T-lymphocyte activity and cell-
mediated immunity . Bioavailable protein derives from the content of potatoes, vegetables,
vegetable juices, and oatmeal. About 40 grams of protein lost each day by
waste excretion is replaced through the Gerson basic vegan diet with some
added dairy protein. The patient is kept in a positive nitrogen balance. In addition to protein restriction, the Gerson diet does reduce calories
(despite the patient’ s consuming 20 pounds of produce daily) by means of
limiting fat intake. In this diet the only fats allowed are from the ongoing
eating of oatme al (1.5 percent calories in fat), flaxseed oil, and the fatty
acids in some vegetables and fruits—a total of just 90 calories of fat daily . The Gerson Therapy was perfected, therefore, to offer potassium
supplementation, sodium near-elimination, calorie limitati on, protein
restriction, and thyroid hormone addition. Additionally , there is
restructuring of all the cells’ water content to produce molecular
reorganization of their protoplasmic water . The ill person’ s body activities are speeded along as well. It’s done on
purpose, for the Gerson Therap y specifically is a metabolic treatment that
stimulates all body processes. Metabolism  is the sum total of all the biochemical processes going on
inside the body , and metabolic therapies focus on ways to balance these
chemical proces ses—enabling normal cells to thrive and cancer cells tobecome depleted  and die, or revert back to normal. The therapeutic goal of
metabolic therapies such as Dr. Gerson’ s approach is to rebuild and
revitalize all of the body’ s life-s ustaining functions, thereby helping to stop
and reverse cancer or to prevent a recurrence.5
Metabolism consists of two fundamental phases, anabolism and
catabolism. Anabolism is the constructive, building-up phase, fostering
growth and order , storage of energy, and production of organic substances
such as enzymes, hormones, antibodies, and cell membrane receptors. Catabolism is the destructive phase, in which matter is broken  down and
energy (ATP) is used. All fundamental biochemical processe s are either
anabolic or catabolic in nature. The Gerson Therapy stimulates both so that
the body finds its required homeostatic balance.6
METABOLIC  SPEEDUP
Dr. Gerson wanted cellular metabolism, so he turned it on with large
loading dosages  of the iodide s, iodine, and up to 5 grains of thyroid
hormone too. With their ingest ion, the patient’ s metabolism speeds up as
manifested by his or her racing pulse, perhaps over 100 beats per minute. Thyroid hormone signals mitochondria (organelles in the cytoplasm of
cells that contain genetic material and many enzymes important for cell
metabolism) to multiply and increase production of ATP for more cellular
energy. Iodides and iodine affect many metabolizing tissues directly in the
same way . When tumor tissue is present, it spreads pathology outward like a sphere
(resembling the sun’s penumbra), which is several times the tumor ’s
volume. Within this sphere, cellular tissue works poorly because it is
waterlogged, insulted, and damaged by cancerous toxins. Metabolic waste
escapes from the tumor and poisons what had been normal tissue. Not
functioning well at all, the tissue just sits there stewing in its own waste
without any good immunity , in a state of poor blood circulation, lacking
resistance, and experiencing bad drainage. Even with the tumor removed surgically , the sphere of tissue remains
waterlogged unless the cancer patient is provided a way to correct that
tissue damage. With the Gerson  Therapy , the sodium ring around tumors
disappears within weeks, because that’s how effective Dr. Gerson’ smanagement has shown itself against the kind of tissue damag e syndrome
that is seen as the penumbra around tumors. THE BIOLOGICAL  BASIS FOR  COFFEE  ENEMAS
Capable of removing circulating toxins and partial metabolites, the coffee
enema dilates bile ducts. This happens because the coffee administered by
means of a cleansing enema stimulates an enzyme system in the liver
known as glutathione S-transferase  (GST) that removes a vast variety of
free radicals (electrophiles) from the bloodstream. Electr ophiles  are atomic particles with one or more electrons in unpaired
spins which have an affinity for other electrons. They want to get involved
where they should not. As charged particles, these free radicals damage
membranes of cells and inflict disturbances in cellular metabolism. Under the influence of a coffee enema the GST enzyme system increases
in activity to 650 percent above normal and removes electrophi les from the
bloodstream. No material other than coffee (not even coenzyme Q10 or
oligomeric proanthocyanidine [OPC]) is known to stimulate free radical
quenching in such a proportion. The free radicals are mopped up and
removed by GST enzymes throu gh the use of coffee cleansing of the lower
bowel (gut). During the time coffee is being held in the gut, all the blood in the body
passes through the liver at least five times. The blood circulates  through the
liver every three minutes. (According to concepts espoused in Ayurvedic
medicine, the liver regrows and replaces itself about every three months.) The palmitate compounds and the caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline
in coffee cause dilation of the liver’s blood vessels and bile ducts,
relaxation of smooth muscles, stimulation of intestinal peristalsis, and
elevation of bile flow . The quart of distilled water being used as a vehicle for this internally
supplied therapeutic coffee conc entrate assists in these various actions too. Toxic bile is flushed out along  with its bile salts to bring about effective
dialysis that is advantageous. The coffee enem a removes ammonialike products, toxic-bound nitrogen,
protein derivati ves, polyamine s, amino acids, coagulated clumps, andcomplexes, all of which are waste products of metabolism. Getting rid of
them frees the body from becoming poisoned by its own wastes. THE GERSON  TECHNIQUE OF  HYPERALIMENT ATION
We have  stated a number of times that for the Gerson patient, vegetarian
foods, raw fruit, and vegetable juices act as the medications  of choice. Collectively consuming such foods brings about hyperalimentation. And
we’ve emphasized that such organically grown, freshly prepared natural
foods are profoundly effective, extremely complex, chemically exquisite
substances that heal better than anything ever invented by the mind of man. Now please accept our warning: Tamper with such nourishment at your
own risk. Our advice is to avoid synthetic substances, including  prescribed
drugs, whenever you can do so. Macr onutrient hyperalimentation,  the practice of selecting only food
substances produced in nature  under ideal conditions to feed the body
optimal nourishment, is the method employed in the Gerson Therapy . It
works to heal ill health in the body and restore it to homeostasis. As described again, the biological basis for the Gerson Therapy is
predicated on sodium restriction, potassium supplementation, protein
limitation, calorie reduction through avoidance of fat, dialysis of the
bloodstream for reduction of electrophiles, macronutrient
hyperalimentation, salt and water management, and accelerated
metabolism. This health-revitalization program has come out of the
thinking of one man, Max Gerson, M.D. By studious applic ation of his
clinical work with patients, his search of the medical literature, and his
strong scientific foundations, we are the beneficiaries. References for Chapter Three
1
Ling, G.N. In Search of the Physical Basis  of Life. New York: Plenum
Press, 1984. 2
Casdorph, H.R. ; Walker , M. Toxic Metal Syndr ome. Garden  City Park,
N.Y.: Avery Publishing Group, 1995.3
Cope, F.W. “Pathology of structured water and associated cations in cells
(the tissue damage syndrome) and its medical treatment.” Physiological
Chemistry and Physics. 9(6):547–553, 1977. 4
Cope, F.W. “The Ling association-induction hypothesis: the high
potassium, low sodium diet of the Gerson cancer therapy .” Physiological
Chemistry and Physics , 10(5):465-468, 1978. 5
Diamond, W.J. ; Cowden, WL. ; Goldber g, B. An Alternative Medicine
Definitive Guide to Cancer . Tiburon, Calif.: Future Medicine Publishing,
1997, p. 309. 6
Ibid., p. 310. OceanofPDF .comChapter Four
THE CORE OF THE GERSON THERAPY
Residing in the county of Devon, England, for all of his fifty-eig ht years,
Xavier Naude, an independently wealthy , refined British gentleman, has
been an exponent of experiencing life in full measure, includin g his heavy
smoking of tobacco. By 1992 Mr. Naude had developed emphysema, the
result of his smoke inhalation, which grew steadily worse with each carton
of cigarettes he consumed. Indeed, Mr . Naude burned up three packs daily . In pulmonary emphysema,  the air sacs (alveoli) of the lungs lose their
permeability and become damaged, which reduces their surface area for the
exchange of oxygen and carbon  dioxide. The condition’ s worst and most
frightening symptom is breathlessness, which may be complicated by
infections. There has been no specific drug or other medical treatment, and
the patient often becomes depen dent on the intake of oxygen by mechanical
means such as the use of oxygen mask and tank plus inhalant devices. How emphysema develops is hardly understood at all, although it is
known to be particularly common in men. While it is associated with
chronic bronchitis and advancin g age, inhaling cigarette smoke is the main
source of this disease. Xavier Naude started to use mechanical drug inhalants and vasodilators
to help him breathe. But more and more, he found himself suffering from
exhaustion. In June 1993, he learned about the healing qualities of the
Gerson Therapy , and by Septe mber of that year he had traveled to San
Diego, crossed the U.S./Mexican border and enrolled as a patient at a
Tijuana clinic providing the Gerson Therapy . Prior to participating in the Gerson Therapy , even after giving up
smoking, using the inhalants, and taking other medications in England, Mr.
Naude felt severe pressure on his chest. He was unable to climb stairs and
encountered great difficulty breathing all the time. His doctors in the United
Kingdom had explained that 70 percent of his lung tissue was lost. Inaddition, he experienced awful leg cramps when he tried to sleep. The poor
man also felt arthritic pain in his fingers so severely that he could not close
them around a glass of juice. In Mexi co, all of these symptoms disappeared one after the other while
he was receiving the Gerson program. Mr . Naude reported, in fact, that even
after the first day of his participa tion in such dietary treatment approach, his
leg cram ps were gone. Some days later he could make a fist, an action
previously impossible, but now he felt no more finger pain. And at the end
of a week, the pressure on his chest eased too. By the conclu sion of two
weeks on the Gerson Therapy , Mr. Naude discovered that he could walk
without stopping to catch his breath. He remained at the Gerson hospital for three weeks all together , and
afterward followed the therap eutic program on his own at home. He
continued to thrive. For Xavier Naude, there was nothing mysterious about
the Gerson Therapy . It had a clear -cut self-treatment plan, open and
understandable to anyone willing to give the dietary/de toxification
combination some study . Mr. Naude stated, “I am totally satisf ied with the
tremendous progress I’ve made away from the disability of emphysema.”
Xavier Naude’ s Harley Street thoracic specialist also confirmed by
written report that his patient’ s lung capacity had increased in a relatively
short period from 30 to 50 percent. The doctor found this astonishing. No
longer could emphysema be considered uncorrectable. PATIENTS  LIKE XAVIER  NAUDE  ARE TYPICAL
If there’s any secret connected with the Gerson Therapy , it is that Gerson
patients are helped past the burden of not only cancer but nearly every other
acute or chronic degenerative disease. Emphysema is but one example
among dozens. Unlike mainstream medicine, the Gerson Therapy does not merely dispel
signs and relieve symptoms of disease, as do cytotoxic poisons used in
oncology for attacking cancer cells and normal cells simultaneously . Rather ,
Dr. Gerson’ s fundamental idea, as he stated, is the following: “A normal
body has the capacity to keep all cells functioning properly . It prevents any
abnormal transformation and growth. Therefore, the natural task of thiscancer therapy is to bring the body back to that normal physiology , or as
near to it as is possible.”1
Dr. Gerson’ s “secret” nutritiona l method steadily changes, by degrees. It
brings an exceedingly sick and malfunctioning body to a state of subclinical
illness, then advances that body to low-level wellness, followed by attaining
homeostasis, next becoming a body exhibiting high-level wellness, and
finally to being able to feel the joy of achieving the highest peak of
physiological performance. Abstracted from two sources, the Gerson
Healing Newsletter  and Dr. Max Gerson’ s original book, A Cancer
Therapy:  Results of Fifty  Cases, the follo wing sections offer you a brief and
simplified description of the Gerson diet from top to bottom. Later chapters
will cover the methods of detoxification, which begin with juicing in
chapter 9 and go on to coffee enemas in chapters 12 and 13. All of these
procedures are equally vital for a sick person’ s recovery .
_OceanofPDF.com_The_Gerson_Therapy_-_Charlotte_Gerson_Morton_Walker.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        The innocent public has been the loser, as
industrialists and other environmental polluters have found new ways to
suppress people’ s immunity, inhibit their enzymes, and kill them with
myriad cancer -causing agents (at last count over 52,000 unnatural
substances). Today, a minimum of forty-nine stressors exist, which
contribute to acute or chronic physical, mental, and emotional deterioration
(see Table 1-1  on pages 19-20). Although Dr. Gerson was the first to identify these stressors, his insights
have been consistently ignored by conventional oncologists. The result is
that patients attended by these wrongheaded cancer specialis ts and their
various followers have paid the price of the oncology group’ s ongoing error. Patients coming  under their care then experience serious disabilities and
death. Quite simply, incorrect allopathic cancer treatments have been
employed for almost a half century to attack tumors without correcting the
underlying causes that initially stimulate their development. THE MULTIPLE  “H ITS” OF PRECURSOR  CARCINOGENS
While the potential of forty-nine (or more) cancer -causing precursors
exists, if an individual avoids being “hit” by most of them it’s possible that
symptomatic cancer won’ t deve lop in his or her lifetime. However, since
one out of three (approaching one out of two) North Americans orEuropeans do currently come down with cancer, the odds are high that
malignancy in some form will strike you or a loved one. According to the multiple-hit theory, all cancers arise from at least two
changes or “hits” to cellular genes. These double hits build up and interact
over time. Eventually, a breaking point is reached (the proverbial “straw
that broke the camel’ s back”) and cancerous growth is switched on. The hits
will likely come  from one of the precursor carcinogens we have cited in
Table 1-1. TABLE 1-1
Everyda y Factors That Contribute to the Rise of Cancer
Taken from the medical, scientiﬁc, and envir onmental literatur e as well as
from our everyday e xperiences, her e is the coauthors’ listing of forty -nine
predisposing, ceaseless, contributing factors as one or mor e sour ces of
cancer aﬀecting the human body’s ever -weak ening enzymatic, hor monal,
immunological, and other defense systems:7
1. Atmospheric cosmic rays and X rays
2. Sunlight’s ultraviolet rays
3. Chronic electr omagnetic ﬁeld e xposur e
4. Geopathic str ess
5. Sick building syndr ome
6. Ionizing radiation
7. Microwave oven radiation
8. Nonionizing electr omagnetic radiation fr om domestic appliances
9. Over head power lines
10. Nuclear radiation
11. Pesticide/herbicide r esidues12. Industrial to xins
13. Drinking or bathing in polluted water
14. Drinking or bathing in chlorinated water
15. Drinking or bathing in ﬂuoridated water
16. Tobacco and smoking
17. Hormonal therapies
18. Immune-suppr essive drugs
19. Consuming ir radiated foods
20. Ingesting food additives
21. Mercury to xicity fr om any sour ce
22. Toxic metal syndr ome
23. Dental amalgam ﬁllings
24. Dental r oot canals
25. Dental cavitations (jawbone spaces lef t by poor tooth e xtraction)
26. Dental metals of all types
27. Steady use of str eet drugs
28. Steady use of pr escription drugs
29. Steady use of nonpr escription drugs
30. Nerve interfer ence ﬁelds
31. Diet or nutritional deﬁciencies
32. Consumption of synthetic “ nonfoods”
33. Chronic physical or mental str ess
34. Destructive negative emotions35. Depr essed thyr oid action
36. Intestinal to xicity or digestive impair ment
37. Parasites
38. Viruses
39. Bacterial infections
40. Fungal infections
41. Block ed deto xiﬁcation pathways
42. Free radical pathology
43. Cellular o xygen deﬁciency
44. Adverse cellular ter rain
45. Oncogenes (cellular genes that change nor mal cells into cancer)
46. Genetic pr edisposition
47. Miasm (ener gy residues of pr evious illnesses)
48. Physical ir ritants, e. g. , asbestos
49. Alcohol consumption
Most critical are the number and types of carcinogenic hits, their
frequency, and their intensity. Some of the carcinogen hits are cancer
“initiators” while others are cancer “promoters. ”8
Any of the precursor carcinogens (often referred to by oncologists as
procarcinogens ) can be a tumor initiator or a promoter. Potentially
cancerous changes begin in a damaged cell’s DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
after the second devastating procarcinogenic hit. Uncontrolled growth in a
damaged cell follows in due course, progressing to an eventually noticeable
malignant lesion with a mass or tumor that may invade other tissues. In the first step toward cancer development, initiation,  the
procarcinogenic hit may produce large numbers of toxic agents, known as
free radicals,  which set up a pathological process that damages the cell’s
DNA when the liver sets up an enzymatic reaction known as Phase One. This reaction causes the procarcinogen to convert into a full-fledged
carcinogen. Additionally, the liver produces Phase Two enzymes to cart off
the dang erous residue that Phase One enzymes leave behind. The liver
plays a vital role in the process of cancer formation, simultaneously
initiating carcinogenesis and neutralizing it. In the second step toward cancer formation, promotion,  the liver’s
neutralization may not be up to par and a damaged cell alters its pattern of
mitosis (normal cell division). It begins to divide voluminously. That is
when the immune system goes to work, recognizing these cells as foreign
and destroying them; if it fails, however, the damaged cell can spawn a
tumorous lesion. In the third step toward a full-blown cancer, progression,  the tumor
attempts to build itself a blood  supply for sustained nourishment. Then
tumorous invasi on of surrounding tissues may take place. Clusters of cancer
cells tend to release certain essential growth factors that promote the
development of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis. 9
TABLE 1-2THE GERSON  DIETARY THERAPY FOR  FIFTY-TWO ILLNESSES
Each of the factors listed in Table 1-1 that can contribute to cancer or
other acute and chronic debilitating illnesses may be successfully prevented
or treated with dietary interven tions. Certain foods fight off cancer and
other degenerative diseases or bring about their physiological reversal. Every food component incorporated into the Gerson Therapy is effective
against a great variety of physical and mental pathological conditions. To date, nearly ten thousand patients have benefited from the Gerson
dietary treatment of life-threaten ing illnesses. Many of these success stories
are described in the Gerson Institute’ s bimonthly Gerson HealingNewsletter. Here is a sample of the several hundred health problems agains t
which the Gerson Therapy has shown verified, permanent ef fectiveness:
In the next chapter, we present the childhood and other background
information on Dr. Max Gerson to let you know who Max Gerson was and
where he came from. You will discover that he really did have the
credentials for teaching us the exquisite arts of producing healing and
achieving health. References for Chapter One
1
Baker, S. M. Detoxification and Healing: The Key to Optimal Health. New Canaan, Conn. : Keats Publishing, 1997, p. 157. 2
Ibid. ,  p. 158. 3
DeVita, V. T. “Foreword” in Nixon, D. W. and Zanca, J. A. The Cancer
Recovery Eating Plan. New Y ork: T imes Books, 1994, pp. v, vi. 4
“Gerson’ s cancer treatment,” editorial. Journal of the American Medical
Association  132:645-646, November 16, 1946. 5
Walker, J. ; W alker, M. Think and  Grow Thin. New Y ork: Arco Publishing
Co. , 1973. 6
Diamond, W. J. ; Cowden, W. Lee. With Goldber g, B. An Alternative
Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer. Tiburon, Calif. : Future Medicine
Publishing, Inc. , 1997, pp. 518, 519. 7
Ibid. 8
Dollinger, M. ; Rosenbaum, E. H. ; Cable, G. Everyone’ s Guid e to Cancer
Therapy: How Cancer Is Diagnosed, Treated, and Managed Day to Day. 3rd edition. Kansas City, MO. : Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1997, pp. 6, 7. 9Cowley, G. with Underwood, A. ; Springen, K. ; Davis, A. “Cancer and
diet: Eating to beat the odds: what you need to know. ” Newsweek,
November 30, 1998, pp. 60-66. OceanofPDF. comChapter Two
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF DR. MAX GERSON
Max Gerson was born in Wongrow itz, Germany, on October 18, 1881. He
was the third child and second boy in a German-Jewish family of nine
healthy children. Early on, he exhibited an inquiring mind. For instance,
when Max was six and a half years old, he wondered what would happen if
the fertilizers were changed in the flowerbeds of his mother ’s garden, and
he therefore carried out exper iments. The lad’s crude attempts at soil
alterations generally resulted in the death of her flowers so, naturally, his
mother quickly stopped Max’ s curiosity as to changing her plants’ soil
nutrition. When the young man was ready to graduate from high school (called
Gymnasium  in Germany), it was required that all students pass a written
mathematics examination. Max’ s graduation test contained a math problem
of a type that he did not remember ever having seen. Yet he proceeded to
set up an equation and find an answer to this very difficult problem. His
teacher had never before seen such an intricate solution and couldn’ t judge
it to be right or wrong. For a determination, the student’ s paper needed to be
sent to a famous  mathematics professor teaching at the Universi ty of Berlin. The answ er came back that Max had produced an entirely new and original
solution; that here was a mathematical genius, and the young man should
absolutely study mathematics. Upon his graduation from Gymnasium,  a family council was called, and
Max’ s future was placed before  his parents and siblings. Noting that there
was no Jewish mathematics professor throughout Germany, it was agreed
that, should Max study mathematics, he would never be more than a simple
high school math teacher. Everyone—including the new graduate himself—
agreed that he should study medicine instead. EDUCA TION OF A  HEALER
Max Gerson attended the universities of Breslau, Wuerzbur g, Berlin, and
Freibur g for his medical studies. In 1907, he completed his internship in
Hoechst, Main, and subsequentl y worked as an assistant to Professor Albert
Frankel, M. D. , in Berlin. From 1909 until the beginning of the First World
War, he worked in Berlin in the Friedrichshain Hospital with Professor
Kronig and Professor Borottau, and for a short period at the children’ s clinic
with Professor Minkowsky. As a captain in the German Army Medical Corps, Dr. Gerson was a close
associate for almost half a decade of the prominent neurosur geon Ottfried
Foerster, M.
The main idea of Dr. Gerson's therapy is to bring the body back to a state of normal physiology, preventing any abnormal transformation and growth, and then advance the body to low-level wellness, followed by attaining homeostasis and finally, high-level wellness.
What is the main idea of Dr. Gerson's therapy?
The Gerson Therapy is an intensive treatment that focuses on hyperalimentation, sodium near-elimination, calorie reduction, protein restriction, and thyroid hormone addition, which is a metabolic treatment that stimulates all body processes.
What is the Gerson Therapy's approach to treatment?
The primary reason for the Gerson Therapy's effectiveness is the elimination of added salt and the replenishment of potassium, which helps to heal the body and restore its natural functions.
What is the Gerson Therapy's primary reason for its effectiveness?
The Gerson Therapy uses coffee enemas to remove toxins and waste products from the body, as well as stimulating the liver to release toxins through the kidneys and intestines.
What is the Gerson Therapy's approach to detoxification?
According to the text, avoiding the "hits" of 52,000+ cancer-causing agents is the key to avoiding cancer, as the body's natural defense systems can become damaged and eventually lead to cancerous growth.
What is the key to avoiding cancer, according to the text?