It is apparent that cancer is the result of multiple factors, mainly self-inflicted, not all of which need be present together and which vary greatly in proportion and degree. The cancer growth itself is a symptom of a serious constitutional disorder upon which cells become cancerous only because they are forced to.

   The cancer process may take many years to proceed to the stage where a primary growth commences and up to this point the process is easily reversible. By the time secondary growths appear the process is very advanced. The stages are:

1. Toxemia, at first counteracted by the liver and excretory organs.
2. Chronic toxemia as liver function gradually declines.
3. Pre-cancer, particularly in tissues with poor blood circulation.
4. Irritation or injury to pre-cancerous tissue causing critical cell dedifferentiation resulting in cancer cells. Still no cancer growth if immune system reasonably functional.
5. Further depletion of immune system due to emotional or physical stress.
6. Cancer cells, no longer destroyed by lymphocytes, form growth of tumor of low malignancy.
7. Vicious circle commences as tumor waste products add to toxemia.
8. Further de-differentiation of cancer cells increases degree of malignancy.
9. Malignant cells detach from primary tumor but at first are apprehended in lymph nodes.
10. Malignant cells carried further in lymph and into main bloodstream, but no metastasis occurs while blood flows freely.
11. Metastasis commences when malignant cell lodges in coagulated blood in a blocked vessel. Now free of any remaining constraints to growth which may have partly controlled it at the primary site, the metastasized growth commences virtually unrestrained.

   It is obvious (and this has been demonstrated by many autopsies when people have died from causes other than cancer) that many apparently healthy people have cancer of which they are unaware.* The cancer may lie dormant for years or be held in check by their immune responses. Subjected to shock, worry, grief or injury, such people rapidly develop cancer when their immune responses become depleted.

*In his hook Antibodies and Immunity (Nelson, 1968), Dr G. J. Nossal says that in autopsies of non-cancer deaths, 22% reveal the presence of unknown malignancies. Of 1,000 such autopsies where cancer was not involved, when the thyroid was specifically investigated, over 50% contained malignant nodules. Other autopsy studies have shown that unsuspected cancer of the pancreas and thyroid is quite common and that in men who make 75 years prostate cancer is present in 50%.

   Present medical statistics of industrial nations indicate that one person in every three must expect to get cancer sooner or later. The correct prediction is worse, because only for the fact that the majority of people perish prematurely of heart or some other degenerative failure, it is almost certain that practically everyone on the Western diet would sooner or later get cancer.

   According to the Cancer Society, there are seven danger signals: any sore that does not heal; any lump or thickening; unusual bleeding or discharge; any change in a mote; persistent indigestion or difficulty in swallowing; persistent hoarseness or cough; and any change in bowel habits. You cannot afford to wait for these signals because they are too late; they indicate established cancer, and by this time it is touch and go whether restoration of normal metabolism is possible.

   It is obvious that any substance or influence of any kind which in any way or any degree adversely affects the chemistry of the body, can thereby contribute to the development first of pre-cancer and then to cancer.

   Cancer in humans and laboratory animals has been separately correlated by many researchers, with each of the following factors:

• Oxygen deprivation to cells.
• Constipation.
• High blood viscosity (sludged blood).
• Lipotoxemia: high blood fat, cholesterol and various toxins (which may include poisons from infected teeth and from amalgam fillings).
• Defective blood chemistry.
• Restricted circulation (eg. tight clothing).
• Excess body fat.
• High dietary fat.
• High dietary protein (animal or vegetable).
• High meat intake (particularly beef, smoked meat, smoked fish).
• High dietary sugar and other refined carbohydrates.
• High dietary starch intake.
• High dietary sodium (salt and monosodium glutamate).
• High intake of spiced food.
• High intake of canned, preserved, or processed food.
• High intake of caffeine in coffee, tea, chocolate, cola drinks.
• Low intake of fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Cooking of food (particularly at high temperatures).
• Vitamin, mineral and enzyme deficiencies (either missing from diet or destroyed by cooking or processing), especially Vitamins A, C, E, and minerals potassium and selenium.
• Hormonal disturbances, particularly hypothyroidism.
• Oral contraceptives.
• Alcohol.
• Beer drinking as distinct from other alcohol.
• Fluoridated water.
• Chlorinated water.
• Various chemical carcinogens inhaled, eaten, absorbed through skin or administered medically (some hair dyes and suntan lotions are suspect).
• Aluminum cooking utensils, cans, containers.
• Drugs (including medicinal drugs). Sedatives, tranquilizers and painkillers.
• Smoking (includes carbon monoxide, nicotine and carcinogens).
• Air pollution, car exhaust fumes, etc.
• Talcum powder, asbestos (irritants to sensitive tissues).
• Lack of sunshine.
• x-rays and TV set emissions.
• Lack of exercise.
• Poor general health.
• City life.
• Stress--emotional or physical (including overwork, fatigue, nagging etc.).
• Worry, grief, despair.

   Whereas it is possible that correction of diet alone can prevent cells becoming cancerous, it has been found that once cancer cells are established they may survive, regardless of diet, if the immune system is not functioning properly. The immune system must therefore be restored to vigorous activity along with the general health of the body.

   With all these facts, surely it is ridiculous to undertake any medical treatment whatever before first rectifying as many of the foregoing factors as possible. Nobody in the world can give one sensible reason why not. But remember this: let it be absolutely clear that medical treatment, particularly chemotherapy, is so damaging to the body that the patients' chances or recovery are severely prejudiced. Remember, first and foremost, our objective is to detoxify the body and restore its proper chemical balance so that, revitalized, it can restore itself to health.

   If all that sounds reasonable, this is what to do:

1. Adopt a diet of 100% fresh, raw fruit and vegetables, high in Vitamins A and C, preferably unsprayed, excluding any which are difficult to digest. No oils, dressings or condiments.
2. Supplement the diet with digestive enzymes, properly prescribed.
3. Observe all the restrictions of salt, sugar, coffee, tea, alcohol, grain products.
4. Drink only distilled water (little water will be required anyway).
5. Avoid air pollution, smoke of any kind.
6. Avoid all medicines, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, sedatives, painkillers, antibiotics etc.
7. Remove or repair infected teeth.
8. Avoid TV set radiation.
9. Get adequate exposure to sunshine without wearing glasses and preferably without clothes. Do not overexpose.
10. Adopt a light aerobic exercise program but don't overstrain.
11. Get plenty of rest.
12. Somehow--anyhow--escape from pressure and worry. Seek peace and tranquility.
13. Understand the problem and tackle it purposefully and confidently.
14. Friends and relations should participate and add moral support.

   As mentioned earlier, further assistance to the body such as supplementary enzymes, thyroid extract, vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, hyperthermia, artificial blood-purification and artificial blood-oxygenation can be provided, under proper supervision, to patients with advanced cancer whose vital organs cannot regenerate without help. An important feature of the Gerson treatment is the use of frequent coffee enemas, the purpose of which is to stimulate the flow of bile in order to remove toxins formed by the disintegration of cancer tissue. Dr Gerson found this procedure necessary after losing some patients who suffered internal poisoning.

   The recommended program is quite simple, is painless, and gets results. However, the additional therapeutic procedures just mentioned should be carried out with the advice and supervision of a professional consultant.

   Subsequent to the discovery of his colon cancer, president Ronald Reagan, at the instigation of his wife Nancy, adopted what is known as a "prudent" diet. And after major surgery to remove the malignant tumor, his recovery was so rapid as to astonish his doctors. Said the leading surgeon, "The President is on a post-operative course that surpasses by 99.9% all patients who undergo this type of surgery. That includes all patients, much less one who is 74 years old". Two reasons for this were given: the President's "superior physical shape" and "the amazing fact that his internal workings were those of a 40-year-old".

   From the reports the author has read, the President's present diet still contains food unsuitable for a cancer patient and I would feet more confident for him if he went 100% Gerson.

   The significance of these events is great, and perhaps soon the "quacks" who long ago pioneered the dietary therapy for disease will be accorded the recognition they deserve.

In conclusion

   When it is considered that cancer remissions are often achieved by correcting just one factor out of so many involved, it is likely that correction of them all should ensure success in the majority of cases.

   At a meeting of Nobel Laureates at Lindau, Germany, June 30, 1966, Dr Otto Warburg, the winner of two Nobel prizes for discoveries of key processes of cell respiration and various enzyme systems, concluded his address saying:

   "Nobody today can say that one does not know what cancer and its prime cause be. On the contrary, there is no disease whose prime cause is better known, so that today ignorance is no longer an excuse that one cannot do more about prevention. The prevention of cancer will come there is no doubt, for man wishes to survive. But how long prevention will be avoided depends on how long the prophets of agnosticism will succeed in inhibiting the application of scientific knowledge in the cancer field. In the meantime, millions of people must die of cancer unnecessarily."

Recommended reading

A Cancer Therapy, The Results of Fifty Cases (1975)--Dr Max Gerson

The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer (1969)--Dr Otto Warburg

The Survival Factor in Neoplastic and Viral Disease (1961)--Dr William F. Koch

A Solution to the Cancer Problem (1962)--Dr Cornelius Moerman

Cancer and Cure--A Doctors Story (1976)--Dr Eva Hill

Recalled by Life (1983)--Dr Anthony Sattilaro

The Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology and Treatment of Cancer (1844)--Dr Walter Walshe

Cancer: Its Nature and Successful and Comparatively Painless Treatment (1866)--Dr John Patterson

The Treatment of Cancer Without Operation (1903)--Dr Robert Bell

The Cancer Scourge and How to Destroy It --Dr Robert Bell

Reminiscences of an Old Physician (1924)--Dr Robert Bell

Cancer (1912)--Dr Forbes Ross

Cancer, Its Genesis and Treatment (1912)--Dr Forbes Ross

Cancer, Its Non-Surgical Treatment (1921)--Dr Lucius Bulkley

The Prevention of the Diseases Peculiar to Civilization (1929)--Sir Arbuthnot Lane

Be Your Own Doctor --Dr Anne Wigmore

The Body is the Hero (1977)--Dr Ronald J. Glasser

The Greatest Battle (1978)--Dr Ronald J. Glasser

Has Max Gerson a True Cancer Cure? (1962)--S. J. Haught (Retitled Cancer--Think Curable! )

Victory over Cancer (1957)--Cyril Scott

My Experiences with Living Food (1954)--Dr Kristine Nolfie

Cancer, Its Dietetic Cause and Cure (1963)--Dr Maude Tresillian Fere

Does Diet Cure Cancer? (1971)--Dr Maude Tresillian Fere

Cancer is Curable --Stefanos Stefanou

How I Healed My Cancer Holistically (1978)--Dore Deverell

Civilized Diseases and Their Circumventions (1978)--Max Ganten

Fresh Hope in Cancer (1978)--Dr Maurice Finkel

Fresh Hope With New Cancer Treatments (1984) -Dr Maurice Finkel

Living Above It (1974)--Robert East

How I Conquered Cancer Naturally (1975)--Eydie Mae Hinsberger

Cancer and Vitamin C (1979)--Drs Evan Cameron, Linus Pauling

You Can Fight For Your Life (1977)--Dr Lawrence Le Shan

The Death of Cancer (1978)--Dr Harold Manner

The Psychogenic Biochemical Aspects of Cancer (1979)--Harold E. Simmons

Cancer, How and Why It May Be Wiped Out (1977) Gordon Roberts

Fruit Can Heal You (1908)--Dr 0. L. Abramowski

How I Overcame Inoperable Cancer (1975)--Dr Ebba Waerland

Healed of Cancer (1977)--Jo Lawson

Killing Cancer (1980)--Jason Winters

Too Young to Die (1979)--Rick Hill

You Don't Have to Die (1956)--Dr Harry S. Hoxsey

Laetrile Case Histories (1977)--Dr John A. Richardson

Food Is Your Best Medicine (1965)--Dr Henry G. Bieler

One Answer to Cancer (1969)--Dr William Kelly

An End to Cancer? (1978)--Leon Chaitow

Cancer, A Healing Crisis (1980) -Jack Tropp

The Grape Cure (1948)--Dr Johanna Brandt

Cancer, How to Prevent It and How to Fight It (1978)--Dr E. Berkley

Cancer Winner (1977)--Jaquie Davison

Healing Miracles from Macrobiotics (1979)--Dr Jean Charles Kohler

Stress, Cancer and the Mind --Dr Hans Selye

The Lonely Sea and Sky --Francis Chicester

The Cancer Blackout (1959)--Maurice Natenberg

Coronary? Cancer? God's Answer (1979)--Dr Richard O'Brennan

Cancer: The Facts (1979)--Sir Ronald Bodley Scott

How to Prevent and Gain Remission From Cancer (1975)--John H. Tobe

Cancer Treatment, Why So Many Failures? (1980)--Richard Ericson

Fruit, The Food and Medicine for Man (1961)--Morris Krok

A Rational Concept of Cancer (1977)--Robert W. Stickle

Cancer Holiday (1978)--Bettie Towner

A Time to Heal (1971)--Peter Newton Fenbow

Cancer--A Second Opinion (1975)--Dr Joseph Issels

Cancer--A Disease of Civilization --Vilhjalmur Stephannson

To Age--But Without Cancer --Dr R. Stoeger

Diet, Nutrition and Cancer (1982)--National Research Council

Colon Health (1979)--Dr Norman Walker

How to Prolong Life ( 1880)--Dr Charles de Lacey Evans

The Wheel of Health (1938)--Dr G. T. Wrench

Hypothyroidism, The Unsuspected Illness (1976)--Broda 0. Barnes

The Liver and Cancer, A New Cancer Theory (1955)--Dr Kasper Blond

Now That You Have Cancer (1977)--Dr Bruce Halstead

Get Well Naturally (1965)--Linda Clark

Cancer Causes and Natural Controls (1983)--Dr Lynn Dallin

Nutrition, the Cancer Answer (1983)--Maureen Salaman

The Topic of Cancer (1982)--Dr Brian Richards

Fluoride, The Aging Factor (1983)--Dr John Yiamouyiannis

A Cancer Patient's Survival Manual (1983)--Barbara Huntington

The Fitzgerald Report (1954)--Benedict F. Fitzgerald

Save Your Life (1983)--Michael L. Culbert

A Gentle Way with Cancer (1983)--Ian Pearce, BA, BM, BCh, MRCS, LRCP

The Cradle of the World and Cancer--A Disease of Civilization (1927)--Dr E. H. Tipper

A Holistic Approach to Cancer (1983)--Ian Pearce, BA, BM, BCh, MRCS, LRCP

The Anti-Cancer, Anti-Heart Attack Cookbook (1985)--Ross Horne and Toni Bobbin

The Cancer Prevention Diet (1983)--Michio Kushi

The Macrobiotic Approach to Cancer (1982)--Michio Kushi