Max Gerson

Max Gerson (18 October 1881 - 8 March 1959) was the developer of the Gerson therapy, an alternative therapy claimed to treat cancer and most chronic, degenerative diseases. Gerson reported on his experience with the regimen in a book, A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases. The therapy is considered unsupported and potentially hazardous by medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Cancer Society.^[1][2]

Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 "Migraine diet" and tuberculosis 3 First cancer case 4 Immigration to the United States 5 Publications 6 Gerson therapy 6.1 Evidence 6.2 Safety concerns 7 Congressional testimony 8 Death and legacy 9 Movies 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Early life

In 1881, Gerson was born to a prosperous Jewish vegetable oil family in Wongrowitz, in the German province Posen. His choice of career in medicine was likely influenced by the general anti-Semitism of German science at the time, as science was closed to Jews, but medicine was open.

[edit] "Migraine diet" and tuberculosis

During Gerson's residency as a young physician, the migraine headaches he had experienced since youth became intolerably more intense, leading him to research the problem for his own sanity. After much study and some false starts, he determined that his daily dietary intake had a major influence on the malady. When he regulated his diet to eliminate the causative elements from his diet, he claimed that he was able to completely avoid migraine headaches.

The foods that Gerson was sensitive to included many of the staples of young German medical students, including spicy sausages, creamy fish dishes, wine, beer, and other alcohol, salt and fatty meats. He eliminated them from his diet for his own comfort. Later, when he entered private practice in Bielefeld, Germany, Gerson began prescribing his migraine diet to his own patients and reported great success.

One migraine patient reported that his lupus vulgaris, or skin tuberculosis, had also cleared up on Gerson's migraine diet. Gerson claimed he was able to replicate his success with other lupus sufferers, and said other forms of tuberculosis were also yielding to his dietary therapy.

A prominent pulmonary surgeon, Dr. Ferdinand Sauerbruch, heard about Gerson's success with lupus and invited him to conduct a clinical trial of his therapy at Sauerbruch's Munich tuberculosis ward. 450 end-stage tuberculosis patients were chosen, and Gerson's dietary regime was applied. In the first clinical trial of his therapy for a disease then considered "incurable," it was reported that 446 patients completely recovered.

With Sauerbruch's backing, Gerson and his dietary therapy quickly became household words in most of Europe, and his therapy was adopted by many as standard treatment for immune system disorders of all kinds, as well as tuberculosis. Advocates of the therapy claim many Swiss mountain tuberculosis sanatoria were put out of business by Gerson's discoveries, and are now ski resorts, including Davos, Gstaad and others.

During his career in Europe, Dr. Gerson supervised tuberculosis sanatoria in Germany (Bielefeld, Kassel, Berlin, Munich), Austria (Vienna) and France (Ville d'Avray, near Paris). He published dozens of papers in prominent European medical journals, and lectured widely to university and medical society audiences all over western Europe. He claimed to be preparing to publish a definitive and incontrovertible study documenting the cure of tuberculosis by dietary therapy when the rising tide of Hitler's Nazism washed all such considerations away.

[edit] First cancer case

Gerson's fame quickly grew in Europe, and he was invited to speak at many medical universities and medical societies in Western Europe.

Gerson said in 1928 he received a call from a woman who was told she had incurable bile-duct cancer. According to Gerson, she begged him to treat her with his migraine and tuberculosis therapy, accepting that he knew nothing about cancer and could not predict the outcome of his treatment. Gerson claimed she totally recovered on his therapy, as did two friends of hers who had cancer.

Gerson continued to attack the problem of TB, which was at the time a much larger problem than cancer in Europe. He became convinced that the denaturing of the soil by artificial fertilizers and the poisoning of the plants with pesticides were at least partially to blame for the growing epidemic of degenerative diseases, leading him to explore agricultural practices as a consultant to the regional government.

Gerson's peers were not convinced of his successes with tuberculosis. They criticized him vociferously, accusing him of faking x-rays and treating patients who never had TB in the first place, among other unethical behavior.

Gerson embarked on a clinical trial of his therapy that would attempt to silence his critics once and for all. He decided to treat only patients who had been declared "terminal" in writing by at least two specialists, so there was no doubt as to the disease or its prognosis. On April 1, 1933, just six weeks before he was to present the results of his study, Adolf Hitler began arresting Jews and sending them to concentration camps. Gerson literally escaped arrest by accident, and left Germany for good, leaving behind the results of his study.

[edit] Immigration to the United States

As a German Jew, Gerson was forced to flee Germany with his family in 1933, first to Vienna and then to Ville d'Avray (near Paris) and London. He settled in New York City in 1936.

Gerson had reported good results with stomach cancer in Bielefeld, and the idea that he had something to contribute to the field haunted him. In the U.S., Gerson began applying his dietary therapy to a few cancer patients. After a few adjustments to the therapy, he reported achieving consistently good results and declared that patients with "terminal" cancer survived for many years. Colleagues declared his therapy ineffective, but desperate patients continued to seek out his practice.

[edit] Publications

Gerson had published dozens of articles^[3] in the European medical literature, but he was almost completely shut out of publishing in his adopted homeland. Eventually Gerson published his methods and findings in 1958, along with fifty cases of "cured" "terminal" patients, in a book, A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases.

[edit] Gerson therapy

Gerson originally developed his eponymous therapy in an attempt to defeat the debilitating migraine headaches he suffered as a medical student and resident. The therapy was based on hyperalimentation, enzymes, "detoxification", and vitamin, mineral, and biological supplementation,^[4] including laetrile.^[5] The precise regimen varied between patients, but typically included: 13 eight-ounce glasses of fresh, organic juices daily; three large, organic, vegan meals; numerous fruit and vegetable snacks throughout the day; supplements such as iodine or potassium; and coffee enemas. The regimen prohibited nearly all animal products and all fats and oils except for flax-seed oil. All foods had to be fresh and organically grown, nothing could be processed, preserved, canned, bottled, boxed, or frozen. The diet was salt-free and avoided all supposed sources of "toxicity", including tobacco, alcohol, fluoride, pesticides, food chemicals and all pharmaceuticals. Gerson considered most pharmaceutical products to be liver-toxic in the long run. Gerson believed that toxic chemicals in the environment poison humans and that modern farming and food processing techniques cause disease. The therapy aimed to reverse any ill effects of exposure to these conditions by rebuilding the damaged organism over the course of 6-18 months. In addition to migraines, Gerson believed that his therapy would be effective in the treatment of chronic diseases as diverse as tuberculosis, fibromyalgia, most forms of advanced cancer, arthritis (both osteo- and rheumatoid), and diabetes.

Gerson's claims of success attracted some high-profile patients, as well as other alternative medicine practitioners. Dr. Gerson's daughter, Charlotte Gerson, has continued working with the therapy along with the Gerson Institute, which she founded in 1977. She was also instrumental in the formation of a number of clinics specializing in the regimen.

[edit] Evidence

The therapy has not been independently tested or subjected to randomized controlled trials, and is illegal to market in the United States as a cancer cure as it lacks proven effectiveness. The Gerson Institute points to observational studies and case reports collected by Gerson himself as anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of the treatment.^[6] 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.^[5] Several retrospective case series have been published in the alternative medical literature; however, these have suffered from signficant methodological flaws.^[5]

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." ^[1] 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.^[7] 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."^[5]

[edit] 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."^[8] The recommended diet may not be nutritionally adequate.^[9]

[edit] Congressional testimony

In 1946, Sen. Claude Pepper (D-FL) summoned Gerson to testify about his cancer therapy before a Congressional Subcommittee's hearing to appropriate $100 million to fund a cancer research center in which Gerson was expected to play a major part.

Gerson presented to the US Congress what he claimed were five healed terminal cancer patients who testified to recovering from incurable disease, but he got little media attention and the appropriations bill died in the Senate.

[edit] Death and legacy

Gerson died in 1959. In 2005, he was inducted, along with seven other major contributors to natural medicine, into the Hall of Fame of the International Society of Orthomolecular Medicine.

[edit] Movies

The movie The beautiful Truth (in Theatres since november 14, 2008) documents the story of a teen searching for a natural cure for cancer. Eventually he rediscovers the Gerson Therapy.

[edit] References

• A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases, Max Gerson, MD, The Gerson Institute, San Diego, CA, 1990.
• The Gerson Therapy, Charlotte Gerson, Kensington Publishing, NYC, 2001.
• Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless, Howard Straus, Quarry Books, Kingston, ONT, 2001.
• Censured for Curing Cancer: the American Experience of Dr. Max Gerson, S. J. Haught, Station Hill Press, NY, 1991.
• History of the Gerson Therapy, Patricia Spain Ward, Ph.D., under contract to the Office of Technology Assessment.
• Master Surgeon (a.k.a. A Surgeon's Life) [Das War Mein Leben], Ferdinand Sauerbruch, London, Andre Deutsch, 1953 [Muenchen Kindler 1951] reprinted since

[edit] External links

• Gerson Therapy Website
• Gerson Therapy: Information from the American Cancer Society
• Gerson Therapy: Information from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• Questionable Cancer Therapies, from Quackwatch