- After the unexpected and tragic death of his mother, 15-year old Garrett, who is an animal-loving teenager, was spiraling downward and fast. His father withdrew Garrett to be home-schooled to avoid flunking out. Growing up on an Alaskan animal reserve, Garrett’s father recognized his son’s interest in the dietary habits of their animals. That prompted him to assign a book written by Dr. Max Gerson
Raised on a wildlife reserve in Alaska, 15-year old Garrett was interested in the dietary habits of their animals. After the tragic death of his mother, Garrett s father decided to home-school his son and assigned a book written by Dr. Max Gerson that proposes a direct link between diet and a cure for cancer. Fascinated, Garrett embarks on a cross-country road trip to investigate The Gerson Therapy. He meets with scientists, doctors and cancer survivors who reveal how it is in the best interest of the multi-billion dollar medical industry to dismiss the notion of alternative and natural cures.
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April 12, 2008
#1
I am no fan of the big chemical companies. I do agree with healthy living. But this film lost me when they started attacking MSG. It’s an additive that they say contributes to obesity and shortens the lifespan and as they imply makes kids stupid. They lost me there because the Japanese consume huge amounts of the stuff and yet they have the longest lifespans in the industrial world, they don’t have an obesity problem and they do pretty damn well in school.
The other thing was they didn’t show that dentists and dental assistants should have the highest rates of cancer based on all the poisonous mercury vapors given off by amalgam fillings.
I just didn’t find the first part very convincing enough to continue with it.
April 12, 2008
#2
Anyone who is willing to give themselves a coffee enema has some serious problems. This is a poor production with some good points. The narration done be the boys father is so annoying thruout the film – I almost shut it off several times. Just to reiterate it definitely showed me some shocking things, but it just isn’t quite up to par by production standards. Also, this was not done by the 15 y/o boy, it was done by his father, the boy was just along for the ride.
April 12, 2008
#3
[...]Proponents of the Gerson diet claim that cancer can be cured only if toxins are eliminated from the body. They recommend “detoxification” with frequent coffee enemas and a low-sodium diet that includes more than a gallon a day of juices made from fruits, vegetables, and raw calf’s liver. This method was developed by Max Gerson, a German-born physician who emigrated to the United States in 1936 and practiced in New York City until his death in 1959. Gerson therapy is still available at Hospital Meridien in Tijuana, Mexico and, since February 1997, at the Gerson Healing Center in Sedona, Arizona.
Gerson therapy is still actively promoted by his daughter, Charlotte Gerson, through lectures, talk show appearances, and publications of the Gerson Institute in Bonita, California. Gerson protocols have included liver extract injections, ozone enemas, “live cell therapy,” thyroid tablets, royal jelly capsules, linseed oil, castor oil enemas, clay packs, laetrile, and vaccines made from influenza virus and killed Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.
In 1947, the NCI reviewed ten cases selected by Dr. Gerson and found his report unconvincing. That same year, a committee appointed by the New York County Medical Society reviewed records of 86 patients, examined ten patients, and found no evidence that the Gerson method had value in treating cancer. An NCI analysis of Dr. Gerson’s book A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases concluded in 1959 that most of the cases failed to meet the criteria (such as histologic verification of cancer) for proper evaluation of a cancer case [16]. A recent review of the Gerson treatment rationale concluded: (a) the “poisons” Gerson claimed to be present in processed foods have never been identified, (b) frequent coffee enemas have never been shown to mobilize and remove poisons from the liver and intestines of cancer patients, (c) there is no evidence that any such poisons are related to the onset of cancer, (d) there is no evidence that a “healing” inflammatory reaction exists that can seek out and kill cancer cells [17].
Between 1980 and 1986 at least 13 patients treated with Gerson therapy were admitted to San Diego area hospitals with Campylobacter fetus sepsis attributable to the liver injections [18]. None of the patients was cancer-free, and one died of his malignancy within a week. Five were comatose due to low serum sodium levels, presumably as a result of the “no sodium” Gerson dietary regimen. As a result, Gerson personnel modified their techniques for handling raw liver products and biologicals. However, the Gerson approach still has considerable potential for harm. Deaths also have been attributed to the coffee enemas administered at the Tijuana clinic.
Charlotte Gerson claims that treatment at the clinic has produced high cure rates for many cancers. In 1986, however, investigators learned that patients were not monitored after they left the facility [19]. Although clinic personnel later said they would follow their patients systematically, there is no published evidence that they have done so. A naturopath who visited the Gerson Clinic in 1983 was able to track 21 patients over a 5-year period (or until death) through annual letters or phone calls. At the 5-year mark, only one was still alive (but not cancer-free); the rest had succumbed to their cancer [20].
April 13, 2008
#4
This movie is long, boring, and slow, especially considering the amount of new information gleaned in it. It doesn’t even really discuss the methods of the Gerson Therapy until the very end at which point it is only vaguely and briefly discussed. It only briefly touches on Mercury Amalgam, MSG, Aspartame, and Geneteically Engineered foods.
So much more could have been taught in this amount of time if the director/producer had wanted to teach it. It ALMOST seems like the point was to inspire hope without giving many ACTUAL FACTS to support the theory.
Really its a rather lame shot at something that probably could have been convincing.
Furthermore, they reference Price-Pottenger, and their nutrition ideas, but then determine that a strictly VEGAN diet is more profitable, which is counter to what Price and Pottenger documented and believed.
I’m rather disappointed. I hope some people are cured by this, and I believe food is a better cure than pharmacology. I personally distrust all things governmental and pharmacological, but this wasn’t well enough supported to convince me it was much better.
April 13, 2008
#5
Every American should see this movie. Schools should be required to show this as it is easy to understand and becomes a precursor to many other avenues of information. As a matter of fact, this could be an entire course. For anyone wishing to pursue further information, many books have been written about Dr. Gerson, Dr. Price, excitotoxins, genetically modified seeds and much more discussed here. For anyone struggling with cancer or watching a loved one or friend going through the conventional treatments, the information in this movie could show them a different way to tackle this. When society is able to see chemotherapy and radiation for the destructive system it really is, we can begin to counter cancer and let our bodies heal.