The Gerson Institute

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MOVIE REVIEWI do not usually review films, but this is an important exception.The Gerson MiracleReviewed by and copyright 2004 Andrew W. Saul"The cure for cancer has been discovered. In 1928." These are the openingwords of the new one-and-a-half hour documentary movie, The Gerson Miracle.No one that views it can possibly misunderstand its uncompromisingassertions that cancer is curable, and that Dr. Max Gerson repeatedly provedit.When Max Gerson, M.D., testified before the U.S. Senate on July 1, 2, and 3,1946, he likely had high hopes of acceptance of his work. No such luck. In1958, he published all the how-to-do-it details in A Cancer Therapy: Resultsof Fifty Cases. He died the next year, under suspicious circumstances. (Moreon this in the Newsletter's interview section, below.)Even today it is necessary for persons seeking Gerson treatment to leave thecountry to obtain

it. As the film's narration says, "Laws in virtually allof the United States prohibit any other treatment of cancer than radiation,chemotherapy and surgery, even though they are usually ineffective at best,and completely ineffective at worst. Chemotherapy, for example, does notcure cancer at all, and usually merely poisons the patient instead of thecancer."Strong words, those. If Oscar-winning documentarist Michael Moore initiallyhad difficulty obtaining distribution for his "Fahrenheit 9/11" movie, youcan be sure there will be some hefty opposition to this one.And yet, the heart of the Gerson therapy is ecological common sense. I thinkthis is why it makes a good subject for film, and why it appealed so toproducer/director Steven Kroschel. Kroschel's previous documentary creditsinclude work for the Learning Channel, National Geographic, PBS, and theBBC, as well as contributions to a number of Hollywood features

including"Straight Up,Vertical Limit," and "I Spy." Not surprisingly, Kroschelpersonally follows the Gerson diet.The narration continues:"The soil, and all that grows in it, is not something distant from us, butmust be regarded as our external metabolism, which produces the nutrientsfor our internal metabolism. Therefore, the soil must be cared for properly.It must not be depleted or poisoned Otherwise, changes will result inserious degenerative diseases in animals and humans."This sounds much like text from any biology textbook that I've taught from."Mass-produced, commercially-grown fruits and vegetables are fertilized withonly three minerals: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous," says thenarrator. Yet plants "need over 50 more." As a consequence, "the plants aresick, and must be kept on life support with toxic chemicals until market."On the other hand, organic farming methods enable both the plant, and

you,to resist disease. This especially includes cancer.The film states that the two key factors that are "the underlying cause ofcancer are deficiency and toxicity." A radical, organic raw vegetablejuice-based diet is proposed as the primary remedy. Why juiced? Because "Dr.Gerson discovered early in his research that fruits and vegetables must bejuiced to flood the body with nutrients that have been lacking within thehuman organism for so very long, sometimes for decades. . . When juice isdrunk, it can enter the blood stream almost as fast as alcohol. . . Dr.Gerson required his patients to drink one 8 ounce glass of juice 13 times aday." That amounts to some 20 pounds of produce, yielding "an organicmedication straight from the table of Mother Nature."The Gerson therapy calls for an expensive grind and press juicer, such as aNorwalk. On the other hand, the film states, Norman W. Walker, thatparticular juicer's inventor

and namesake, died June 6, 1985 at the age of117. All of Max Gerson's brothers and sisters died in the Holocaust.Now for the second aspect of the Gerson therapy. Drinking such enormousquantities of fresh juice every day "dislodges accumulated body poisons,which are absorbed by the liver, somewhat overwhelming it." Therefore, tohelp out the hard-working liver, the Gerson approach employs an unusualdetoxification technique. "Organic body-temperature coffee administeredrectally stimulates the liver's bile ducts to then dump those scavengedtoxins into the colon for evacuation." This, the film states, ensures that"the immune system will now have the upper hand" and the patient is morelikely to recover.You will not be disappointed to know that the film does indeed provide stepby step directions on exactly how to prepare a coffee enema. Boil 1 quartdistilled water, add 3 tablespoons drip ground coffee, reduce heat, andsimmer

for 15 minutes. Strain and add sufficient water to again have 1quart. Cool to body temperature, and then introduce eight inches into thecolon with an enema kit. Retain the enema for 12 to 15 minutes.The movie's sound track music chosen to accompany the coffee enema recipepreparation sequence is a performance of Beethoven's Concerto for Violin andOrchestra in D Major by the City of Magenta, Italy Symphony Orchestra. Theviolin soloist is Francesca Ettorina Dego, Dr. Gerson's great-granddaughter,age 14. Her rendition is excellent.There is more to the therapy than juices and coffee enemas. "Table salt is apoison," says the narration. Our "unrelenting" use of sodium "causesdisplacement of potassium found naturally in human cells, leaving themvulnerable to attack by disease." For this reason, debated to this day, Dr.Gerson gave patients on his already very-low-sodium, potassium-rich dietstill more supplemental potassium in the

form of equal parts of potassiumgluconate, potassium acetate, and mono potassium phosphate. Flaxseed oil wasthe preferred fatty acid source, and was to be "raw and cold" and not to beused for a cooking oil. Pancreatin, acidophilus, and vitamin B-3 (niacin)were also provided supplementally.The most common criticisms of the Gerson program are that the diet isrestrictive and that the coffee enemas are excessive. It is true that theGerson therapy is an extreme diet, but then cancer is an extreme disease.One extreme may indeed call for another; it takes a lot of water to put outa burning building. Chemical, radiological and surgical extremes are theoncologist's stock in trade. Why not nutrition?I enjoyed the section of the movie where the camera follows Dr. Gerson'sdaughter and successor, Charlotte, as she interviews patients under actualtreatment at the Gerson facility in Mexico. There, it is said, patients in"as little as

two weeks are free from cancer." 35 years after man firstwalked on the moon, this remains a revolutionary statement, one that mayinvite either a physician's ridicule or a cancer patient's seriousinvestigation.Charlotte Gerson, now 82, practices what her father preached. "I cancelledmy health insurance when I was 34 years old," she says. "The reason was thatI'm not interested in the kind of hospital or medical treatment that mightbe covered by insurance, because it's toxic." She says she saved money, plusfeels good in the bargain. She is outspoken and emphatic. On camera, shestates, "I'm always telling women: 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if you neverhad to worry about finding a lump in your breast?' But if you eat healthy,that's what happens. Living in this manner, you don't risk cancer."She is in a position to know, having seen her father's work at close rangefor so many years. I asked Charlotte about this, and she told me,

"Myearliest childhood memories of helping my father go back to my playing inour sandbox when I was about five years old. My father's medical office wasin the same house where we lived and patients would come to see him there.Many of those were from the agricultural area surrounding the city where welived, Bielefeld (Westphalia), Germany. The farmers who consulted my fathercould hardly believe that one could survive in good health without meat andanimal proteins. So my father would send for me, a little dirty and full ofsand, to show me off. I was sturdy, tall for my age, healthy androsy-cheeked and presented a good picture of the effectiveness of vegetariannutrition."She still does. Filmmaker Steven Kroschel says, "Working with CharlotteGerson touched me deeply, as she reminded me of my German Grandparents andthe old fashioned hospitality that went along with it. I have to say that Icannot recall meeting anyone quite as

honest, compassionate and giving asshe is."Doctor-vexing patients' testimonials form the backbone of Kroschel'sdocumentary. There are plenty of them. One man with prostate cancer,confirmed by biopsy, decided to go Gerson. After 18 months on the therapy,his PSA was an extraordinarily low 0.06.Ascites, the abdominal fluid buildup all to commonly accompanying cancer orliver disease, may be reduced by way of the Gerson therapy. One patientinterviewed in the film reports a decrease of 8 cm on the first day of thetherapy, with 2 cm/day afterwards.One woman, diagnosed with ovarian cancer and given 6 to 9 months to live,speaks on camera of how she lived not nine months, but nine years and isstill in excellent, cancer-free health. Her therapy was the Gerson diet.Three other women she knew, all of whom selected chemotherapy, were, aspredicted, dead in nine months or less.Possibly the most moving testimonial comes from

a child, named Stephanie,who was diagnosed with widespread cancer in the kidney, lungs, vena cava andheart before she was even six years old. After conventional treatment hadbeen tried and had failed, she (and her parents as well) embarked on theGerson program. Asked what she thought of the diet, the girl responded quitefrankly: "The food? At first I thought it was kind of weird. But after,like, a week, it started tasting better."Stephanie, who had been given six months to live, was very much alive overtwo years later and shown horseback riding. The narration presented her asnot fully cured, but "on the road to recovery" to the point that her doctorswere "astounded." Stephanie herself described her quality of lifeimprovement as well as it has ever been described: "I've been feeling lotsbetter. I've been having more energy when on the diet. I feel very healthy,and stronger, and much better than I did."The most skeptical

viewer cannot possibly watch the scenes of this lasshorseback riding and not be at least a little bit persuaded.Then there is Pat, a woman with pancreatic cancer which had spread to herliver, gall bladder, and spleen. Throwing up blood, she was diagnosed at age46, and given 3 months to live. That was in 1986. Pat's bleeding and painstopped in 10 days of Gerson therapy. After two years of Gerson, a CAT scanshowed that the cancer was gone. Pat is now 65.Hollywood star Michael Landon was similarly diagnosed with pancreaticcancer. He, too, had been given three months to live, and he likewise triedthe Gerson therapy. Landon appeared on the "Tonight" show, looking hale andhearty after only a short time on the Gerson program. Immediatelyafterwards, the narration says, Landon was warned off of the Gerson diet byhis physicians. He abandoned it, and his condition promptly worsened. Helater personally telephoned Pat and told her that

he "should have stayedwith the Gerson therapy." Michael Landon died in 1991.As a very young man, I made a documentary film about the pollution andproposed reclamation of the Genesee River in Rochester, NY. Excessive cameramotion was the byproduct of my limited equipment and poor technique.Although it may be an intentional stylistic tool, I for one would ask thatdirectors of feature documentaries everywhere lose the hand-held camerareality-look and get themselves better tripods than I had.The Gerson DVD has no menu for chapter selection, and for those wishing tore-study any one of the 30 chapters in this 90 minute feature, a chaptermenu would be most helpful.This film makes no attempt at conciliation nor compromise, with frequentunabashedly in-your-face statements, such as: "The only area of whichestablished orthodox medicine in the US is superlative is in the cost."Another: "The viability of life hinging essentially

on what we pour into ourcups, and place on our plates, is so simple, and yet profoundly hard tograsp by modern medicine." The film also emphasizes the detrimental effectsof all manner of pollution on our internal environment. Mercury-based dentalamalgam condemned; Ritalin is ridiculed, as is the Standard American Diet("SAD"). Even milk-drinking is eschewed by the Gerson approach. "With everymeal, we are either digging our own graves with the silverware, or ensuringa healthy and productive life."There is something in The Gerson Miracle to provoke practically anybody. Onthe other hand, there is such value in Gerson's therapy to justify the filmbeing seen by everybody.We have to face the facts: Dr. Gerson's saved lives and his methods stilldo. Here is the very first movie to offer this essential message to a newand ever-widening audience. To say that such a message is somewhatcontroversial is understatement akin to saying

that the Beatles somewhatinfluenced popular music, or that Citizen Kane was a pretty good flick. Factis, the Gerson therapy exists. You can say that it doesn't work, but you canalso find living, breathing people who will tell you differently. Thisdocumentary does exactly that, and this is what documentaries should bedoing.(The Gerson Miracle. 91 minutes; 2004. VHS: 29.95; DVD: $24.95, fromCharlotte Gerson, 355 Greenwood Place, Bonita, CA 91902. lg27win .Shipping is $3, CA residents add 7.5% sales tax. On-line ordering:http://www.gerson.org/store/default.asp)A reminder: The Doctor Yourself Newsletter has no financial connection withanyone. Period.INTERVIEW WITH CHARLOTTE GERSONDY NEWS: It is a pleasure to see the Gerson therapy continue to gainacceptance and

press worldwide. All this is primarily due to your efforts,which are truly an everlasting honor to your father's work. Could we beginwith these questions, please. I have seen the Gerson VHS videos producedabout 15 years ago, such as "Doing the Gerson Therapy at Home." How is yourintention for this new documentary different?CHARLOTTE GERSON: The Gerson videotapes were produced well over 10 years agomainly to provide information to patients about the therapy, how and why itproduces results, how to manage the therapy (Vol. II, The Workshop) and(Vol. III) how to cook, juice, prepare coffee concentrate for enemas, andhandle medications. The new documentary presents Dr. Gerson's work, how hestarted to understand the importance of the soil, how his own healthproblems forced him to search for solutions - then how he was able toelaborate on those to achieve healing of cancer. The documentary alsopresents 8 or 9 patients, most of them

long-term recoveries after desperatediagnoses. This documentary should be distributed all over the world toinform the suffering public of the available healing, the natural approachinstead of drugging symptoms. And this healing is not just for patientssuffering from cancer, but for those suffering from other chronic'incurable' diseases.DY NEWS: The documentary contains some very strong words and absolutestatements about pharmaceuticals and modern medicine. What are the chiefobstacles to your work at present?CHARLOTTE GERSON: The chief obstacles to spreading this informationworldwide is the powerful medical/pharmaceutical industry. According to Dr.Ralph Moss, in his book "The Cancer Industry" (New York: Paragon Press,1989), cancer treatments are bringing in over $100 billion dollars annuallyin the U.S. alone! The problem with the Gerson Therapy is that it is notpatentable, and produces no profits for the pharmaceutical

industry.Therefore they have powerful means, publicity, falsehoods that are spread byexpensive TV and magazine ads to promote their "latest and promising" drugtreatments. The general public is still convinced that only drugs andsurgery, possibly radiation will help to overcome cancer. The advertisers donot publish the fact that each year the number of people dying of cancerincreases by some 10% and more and morechildren suffer and die of cancer! Only when all "orthodox" treatments havefailed do some enlightened patients look for alternative treatments. That iswhy over 90% of patients coming to the Gerson Therapy hospital are in"terminal" condition. If orthodox treatments could cure cancer, we would beout of business.DY NEWS: Dr. Gerson was, and still is, widely denounced by thepharmaceutical/medical establishment. For a therapy that works, why theresistance from doctors?CHARLOTTE GERSON: After my father

presented five "cured hopeless cancerpatients" before a U.S. Senate Committee in early July, 1946, the medicalestablishment increased its attacks with articles in the JAMA on Dr. Gerson.It published an editorial about the Gerson treatment with the heading "OfFraud and Fables." It even either forced or paid a physician to retract hispositive testimony during that hearing and had him write to U.S.universities and medical organizations stating that the Gerson Therapy hadno effect in the treatment of cancer! This letter was subsequently publishedall over the medical press, and reported to anybody inquiring from the AMAabout the Gerson treatment. Other attacks were more subtle: Dr. Gersonstated that some 25% of his best cases were regularly contacted by theirprevious doctors, asked to report on their progress. Then they were toldthat in their 'improved' condition, chemotherapy could now clear all cancerproblems. When they agreed to take

some chemotherapy, they died.DY NEWS: I hesitate to bring this thought forward, but the movie more thansuggests that Dr. Gerson was murdered by arsenic poisoning. Can you commentmore about this sensitive issue?CHARLOTTE GERSON: Dr. Gerson rented his office in a building originallysupplied by grateful recovered patients. However the staff, headed by thesame physician I referred to earlier, spied on Gerson, reported names andaddresses of his patients who were then contacted by their prior doctors -and many of the patients' files and records "disappeared." It was a factthat even at an advanced age (77 years) Dr. Gerson had a somewhat low bloodpressure and enjoyed one cup of coffee in the afternoon. He noted at onepoint that every evening, after having coffee served at his office, that hehad violent cramps and diarrheas. He stopped taking this coffee but asubsequent 24-hour urine collection showed that he excreted arsenic! He

didnot die immediately; however this weakened him considerably and hesubsequently contracted a viral lung infection that killed him Then thedoctors committed their ultimate insult: they claimed that he died of lungcancer! Of course his lung X-rays did not show tumors but lung damage fromhis infection. You will find a good deal of this information in my son'sbiography of Dr. Gerson (http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersonbio.htm).Actually, Howard found it impossible to find a publisher in the U.S. Theywere afraid of trouble from the AMA or "Big Pharma." The publisher in Canadawho agreed to print the book removed about one-third of the stories thatwere highly unflattering to the AMA, the JAMA, and more.DY NEWS: Thank you for your candor, and for the interview.CHARLOTTE GERSON: Thanks

for this opportunity to inform your readers.For more information on the Gerson therapy:The complete how-to-do-it book:http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersontherapy.htmlDr. Gerson's own words: http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersonspeech.htmlReferences and citationshttp://www.doctoryourself.com/bib_gerson_therapy.html andhttp://www.doctoryourself.com/bib_gerson.html.The Gerson Institute1572 Second AvenueSan Diego, CA 92101Tel. 619-685-5353Toll-free: 1-888-4-GERSONmailThe Gerson Institute's Website:http://www.gerson.org