re: #441 pbird

Thats the man. He was a genius. Read Results of Fifty Cases.

Yeah, genius…

Two aspects of the Gerson treatment have attracted attention as possible causes of adverse effects—the use of raw calves liver juice, and coffee enemas.

Ingestion of raw calves liver juice has been associated with infection with Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus, an organism that is carried in the intestinal tract of cattle and sheep. Infection with C. fetus subsp. fetus is treatable if detected early, but can lead to sepsis and death if undetected or inadequately treated (339). An outbreak of C. fetus subsp. fetus infection among cancer patients, some of whom were thought to have been treated with the Gerson regimen, was reported in 1981 (339).

Between January 1979 and March 1981, nine cancer patients and one lupus patient with sepsis were reported to the San Diego County Department of Health Services. C. fetus subsp. fetus was isolated from blood cultures from nine patients and from peritoneal fluid from one patient. Upon admission to the hospital, five of the patients were comatose and all had severe electrolyte abnormalities. The nine cancer patients died shortly after admission (338).

After learning of the outbreak from a newspaper article, members of the Gerson staff contacted the San Diego Department of Health Services to discuss the problem, assuming from the description of treatments taken that at least some of the ten patients had been treated at the Gerson clinic (401). Acknowledging the possible link between the raw liver juice and the Campylobacter infection in these patients, Gerson staff subsequently improved the handling and storage of the calves liver to reduce the likelihood of contamination and instituted routine tests for C. fetus among their patients at the first sign of infection; patients testing positive would then be treated with an appropriate antibiotic (e.g., erythromycin) (401). No further reports of this type of infection in Gerson patients have been published in the literature. The clinic discontinued the use of raw liver juice in late 1989, however, because of potential problems with infection (326). Coffee enemas have been associated with serious fluid and electrolyte abnormalities, although none have been reported specifically in patients undergoing the Gerson regimen. One report in the literature noted the death of two Seattle women, one of whom had cancer, due to fluid and electrolyte abnormalities following coffee enemas (273). One of these women reportedly took ten or twelve coffee enemas in one night, and continued at a rate of one per hour, while the other woman took them four times daily; in both cases, the enemas were taken much more frequently than is recommended in the Gerson treatment. Another report of serious adverse effects associated with coffee enemas cited three cases (579). The overall risk of fatal electrolyte disturbance associated with coffee enemas is unknown, and may depend to some extent on frequency and conditions of use (see also discussion in Box 3-B).