Treating
Cancer with Coffee Enemas
Of
all the alternative therapies being offered today the coffee enema
is the most controversial. This method of detoxification,
as bizarre-sounding as it may be, is routinely being used in detoxification
programs and specifically in the treatment of cancer.
Is
there any scientific basis or rationale behind this procedure?
Interestingly enough, there has been some independent scientific
work that gives credence to this concept. In 1981 Dr. Lee
Wattenberg and his colleagues were able to show that substances
found in coffee (kahweol and cafestol palmitate) promote the activity
of a key enzyme system, glutathione S-transferase, above the norm.
This system detoxifies the bloodstream and, according to Gar Hildenbrand
of the Gerson Institute," must be regarded as an important mechanism
for carcinogen detoxification."
Manhattan
physician, Nicholas J. Gonzalez, and his unorthodox cancer treatments
-- coffee enemas, huge vitamin doses and much more -- have attracted
the attention of the National Cancer Institute. In partnership
with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine,
a division of the National Institutes of Health, the institute
is sponsoring a five-year, $1.4 million study of the treatment.
Proof of the growing political and economic clout of alternative
medicine.
The
enema itself is not a new concept in treating disease. In
fact, it has been called "one of the oldest medical procedures
still in use today." The earliest medical text in existence,
the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, (1,500 B.C.) mentions it. Millennia
before, the Pharaoh had a "guardian of the anus," a special doctor
whose purpose was to administer the enema.
But
why, of all things, coffee? Max Gerson, M.D., (1881-1959),
founder of the Gerson Therapy, successfully treated many cancer
patients with a dietary regimen that included niacin 8-10 times
per day. Coffee beans contain a biologically inactive derivative
of niacin, which is then converted to the active form of niacin
by ordinary roasting procedures. Niacin (nicotinic acid,
vitamin B-3) produces a dramatic reaction, called the "niacin
flush," when you take a sufficient dose. While coffee drinkers
tend to receive a substantial amount of niacin, drinking coffee
is not recommended for cancer patients.
Caffeine
enemas cause dilation of bile ducts, which facilitates excretion
of toxic cancer breakdown products by the liver and dialysis of
toxic products from blood across the colonic wall. According
to Dr. Etienne Callebout, London, England, "If a patient does
not attempt to relieve the body of toxins, the chances of recovery
may be seriously diminished." The coffee enema may be among
the only pharmaceutically effective choleretics noted in medical
literature that can be safely used many times daily without toxic
effects. As an aside, it's been purported that coffee enemas
are also effective in combating and relieving pain.
Press
Releases and Articles regarding Dr. Gonzalez
InTouch
- The complete text of an article from August 1999 about the Gonzalez
Regimen that appeared in the magazine InTouch, an oncology
news magazine that is sent to over 90,000 physicians as well as
patients and non-professionals interested in cancer research.
From
CNN - Unusual dietary treatment may fight pancreatic
cancer.
Clinical
Pearls News - An interview with Dr. Gonzalez that
appeared in the November 1999 issue of Clinical Pearls News,
a health letter on current research in nutrition and complementary
medicine.
New
York 1 News Transcript - A transcript of a segment on
Dr. Gonzalezâs work that was televised on August 17, 1999 on New
York 1 News, a Time-Warner news channel in New York City. The
segment included an interview with a long-term survivor of metastatic
kidney cancer.
More
Press Releases from Dr. Gonzalez's Web site, along with
his Research
Efforts.
- Ralph
W. Moss, Ph.D., director of the The Moss Reports for
cancer patients, comments
on the Washington Post story comments on a news report
published in the Washington Post about Dr. Gonzalez.
