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Assessment of Common Anticancer Diets: Gerson’s Diet
Assessment of Common Anticancer Diets: Gerson’s Diet
Starting in the 1920s and until his death in 1959, German-born American doctor Max Gerson developed and promoted a diet consisting of primarily raw foods - with an emphasis on fresh fruit and vegetable juices - as an alternative treatment for cancer.
Gerson’s patients were given Lugol’s iodine solution, pancreatin enzymes for digestion, thyroid extract, as well as mineral and vitamin supplements. At one point he also prescribed taking raw calf liver either orally, as a juice, or by injection.
In 1958, Gerson published a book titled A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases, describing fifty patients supposedly cured by his diet, but was labeled a quack by the American Medical Association. His clinic was forced out of the United States and currently operates in Tijuana, Mexico, managed by his daughter.
The diet, also known as Gerson Therapy, is extremely labor-intensive, as everything a patient eats throughout the day has to be fresh, and compliance often fails once the patient returns home from the clinic. Even with excellent compliance, which typically employs the full-time effort of two supporting personnel, results are startlingly poor. The diet is too high in sugar and too low in protein for cancer patients.
Promoted as a natural treatment that activates the body’s ability to heal itself, Gerson Therapy involves a vegetarian diet, raw juices, coffee enemas for detoxification, and natural supplements. The patient consumes three vegetable-only meals per day, as well as fruits and vegetables as snacks. 15-20 pounds of organically grown fruits and vegetables are consumed daily, mostly in juice form. One cup of juice is consumed every hour, thirteen times per day. Raw carrot/apple and green leaf juices are usually recommended.
The therapy incorporates natural supplements - including Vitamin B12, potassium, pancreatic enzymes, and thyroid hormone - and up to five coffee enemas daily. It also limits salt and fat intake, as well as many sources of complete protein.
The therapy incorporates natural supplements - including Vitamin B12, potassium, pancreatic enzymes, and thyroid hormone - and up to five coffee enemas daily. It also limits salt and fat intake, as well as many sources of complete protein.
No randomized clinical trials have been conducted to test the effectiveness of Gerson Therapy. A retrospective review conducted in 1995 by the Gerson Research Organization reported positive results. However, non-randomized efforts to examine the diet were poorly designed and suffered from high drop-out rates. The American Cancer Society urges cancer patients to avoid this and other metabolic therapies. Gerson Therapy poses a risk for malnutrition from severe dietary restrictions, as well as dehydration and colitis from frequent enemas.
Pros – nutritional benefits from organic food; proteolytic enzymes for anti-inflammation; fiber-rich vegetable intake.
Pros – nutritional benefits from organic food; proteolytic enzymes for anti-inflammation; fiber-rich vegetable intake.
Cons – juices have a high glycemic index and are lacking in fiber; the vegetarian diet also has a high glycemic index and is lacking in vitamins and minerals that are present in meats; coffee enemas cause dehydration and colitis; no salt means the body does not get enough sodium, while no meat leaves it without necessary amino acids, fats, vitamins and minerals; in cases of thyroid cancer consuming thyroid extract may exacerbate the disease.
References
- Cassileth B. Gerson regimen. Oncology (Williston Park). 2010 Feb;24(2):201. PMID: 20361473.
- Cope FW. A medical application of the Ling association-induction hypothesis: the high potassium, low sodium diet of the Gerson cancer therapy. Physiol Chem Phys. 1978;10(5):465-8. PMID: 751080.
- Molassiotis A, Peat P. Surviving against all odds: analysis of 6 case studies of patients with cancer who followed the Gerson therapy. Integr Cancer Ther. 2007 Mar;6(1):80-8. doi: 10.1177/1534735406298258. PMID: 17351030.
- “Gerson Therapy.” Gerson Therapy | Complementary and Alternative Therapy | Cancer Research UK, 5 Apr. 2019.