Dr. Gerson

jsipin said:

EC Stage III (Gerson diet)
Hello,

I'm so glad that the gerson has worked for you. My dad was diagnosed with EC stage III this past January and he also went in for an esophagectomy this past August. So far he's not doing so well post surgery and a recent Ultrasound indicated that a "pin Point" of cancer was found. considering these results I am very optomistic about his fight with this terrible disease. I recently researched the affects of the gerson diet I Know in my heart that this will work. So my questions to you is, how many cups a day of apples and carrots did you go through? I just wanted to get an Idea. I am really am deperate here and I know my Father can beat this. thank you so much. God Bless, and again I'm so happy that it has worked for you.

Agreed
My own experience can back up Scambuster 100% - have been on a similar diet since shortly after stage 4 diagnosis 3.5 months ago .. and cannot overstate how much it has helped. Feel better - and scan resuts after 9 weeks chemo are excellent. Anybody serious about fighting cancer really should eliminate animal & dairy from their lives. Maybe occasional fish (jury seems to be out on that) but not shellfish - however nice it is, shellfish has nothing to offer. The diet may not cure (although his diet is overall good, Gerson's daughter makes dubious claims and charges outrageous money for her clinics which, by the way, only operate in 2 countries). Stick with a near-vegan diet and it gets easy, especially as the benefits kick in. Yesterday - had a cereal with milk for first time in 12 weeks (laziness & bare larder) and thankfully felt noticeably bad afterwards, so won'tbe tempted again!

PS Lance Armstrong ...not really a good argument against healthy lifestyle being a protection from disease.

ebawa said:

Gerson diet
Hello Jspin,

Sorry I did not see you post until now. I juice for myself, my wife and son. I drink 8oz in the morning on an empty stomach and another 8oz before lunch. I use about 10 good size carrots (organic), 3 small organic granny smith apples, about 1-1/2 cups of blackberries, 1-2 stacks of organic celery and 8-10 strawberries. This makes 4-5 8oz cups.

Take care,

Alan

Josie could use your help...
Alan,
Josie has been searching for good juicing recipes. Have you seen her post?

colleen B said:

wikipedia
A good source for me is to use wikipedia and then follow up anything on there with their footnotes. You can read the original source documents... if you want to...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Gerson

Max Gerson (18 October 1881–8 March 1959) was a German physician who developed the Gerson Therapy, an alternative dietary therapy which he claimed could cure cancer and most chronic, degenerative diseases. Gerson described his approach in the book A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases. However, when Gerson's claims were independently evaluated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), it was found that Gerson's records lacked the basic information necessary to systematically evaluate his claims. The NCI concluded that Gerson's data showed no benefit from his treatment.[1] The therapy is considered scientifically unsupported and potentially hazardous.[2][3]

Gerson Therapy

Gerson's therapy required the patient to consume a raw plant based diet and to drink an 8-ounce glass of fresh organic juices every waking hour. Coffee and castor oil enemas were among several types of prescribed enemas, and some patients were given hydrogen peroxide orally and rectally. Rectal ozone was also applied. Dietary supplements include vitamin C and iodine. The diet prohibited the drinking of water and consumption of berries and nuts, as well as use of aluminium vessels or utensils.[5]
Initially, patients were required to drink several glasses of raw calf liver extract daily. Following an outbreak of Campylobacter infection linked to the Gerson clinic's extract, which sickened and killed several of the clinic's patients,[6] carrot juice was substituted.
Animal products and fats and oils were excluded (except for the raw calf liver extract and flax-seed oil), as were supposed sources of toxicity, including tobacco, salt, alcohol, fluorides, pesticides, food additives, and pharmaceuticals. Foods were to be fresh, organically grown and unprocessed. The therapy claimed to reverse any ill effects of exposure to environmental toxins over the course of 6–18 months, and Gerson believed it would be effective against most chronic diseases including tuberculosis, fibromyalgia, most forms of advanced cancer, arthritis (both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis), and diabetes.
Gerson's claims of success attracted some high-profile patients, as well as other alternative medicine practitioners. Gerson's daughter, Charlotte Gerson, continued to promote the therapy, founding the "Gerson Institute" in 1977.


Evidence
Gerson's therapy has not been independently tested or subjected to randomized controlled trials, and thus is illegal to market in the United States.[1] The Gerson Institute claims that Gerson's observational studies and case reports are anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of the treatment.[7] In his book, Gerson cites the "Results of 50 Cases"; however, the U.S. National Cancer Institute reviewed these 50 cases and was unable to find any evidence that Gerson's claims were accurate.[3] Gerson Institute staff published a case series in the alternative medical literature; however, the series suffered from significant methodological flaws, and no independent entity has been able to reproduce the Gerson Institute's claims.[3]

Independent anecdotal evidence suggests that the Gerson Therapy is not effective against cancer. When a group of 13 patients sickened by elements of the Gerson Therapy were evaluated in hospitals in San Diego in the early 1980s, all of them were found to still have active cancer.[6] The Gerson Institute's claimed "cure rates" have been questioned; an investigation by Quackwatch found that the Institute's claims of cure were based not on actual documentation of survival, but on "a combination of the doctor's estimate that the departing patient has a 'reasonable chance of surviving,' plus feelings that the Institute staff have about the status of people who call in."[8] In 1994, a study published in the alternative medical literature described 18 patients treated for cancer with the Gerson Therapy. Their median survival from treatment was 9 months. Five years after receiving the Gerson treatment, 17 of the 18 patients had died of their cancer, while the one surviving patient had active non-Hodgkin lymphoma.[9]
The American Cancer Society reports that "[t]here is no reliable scientific evidence that Gerson therapy is effective in treating cancer, and the principles behind it are not widely accepted by the medical community. It is not approved for use in the United States."[2] In 1947, the National Cancer Institute reviewed 10 "cures" submitted by Gerson; however, all of the patients were receiving standard anticancer treatment simultaneously, making it impossible to determine what effect, if any, was due to Gerson's therapy.[10] A review of the Gerson Therapy by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center concluded: "If proponents of such therapies wish them to be evaluated scientifically and considered valid adjuvant treatments, they must provide extensive records (more than simple survival rates) and conduct controlled, prospective studies as evidence."[3]

Safety concerns
Coffee enemas have contributed to the deaths of at least three people in the United States. Coffee enemas "can cause colitis (inflammation of the bowel), fluid and electrolyte imbalances, and in some cases septicaemia."[11] The recommended diet may not be nutritionally adequate.[12] The diet has been blamed for the deaths of patients who substituted it for standard medical care.[13]

Actually, wikipedia is NOT a  "good source" of information, particularly for alternaetive medicine and holistic treatments.  Whoever runs it won't even let alternate ideas come into the system.  almost everything one tries to look up on wikipedia in that realm has a negative view- someone and some entity is behind perpetuating this view.  It doesn't make ANY SENSE that because Gerson protocol (or whatever else for that matter) didn't make it through one model of criteria, that we should judge it as "not effective" , or "  Untested", or whatever.   Gerson himself spent a lifetime testing out his work, as a trained medical doctor.  and I have to laugh that , while the medical industry outright kills more than 400,000 people a year , we  are warned about 3 people dying of coffee enemas, under nefarious circumstances, not even knowing the circumstances.  Talk about fitting "science" to suit you when you want to, and disclaim it when you don't.