QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Question of 8/22/99: Coffee Enemas?

Q. I need more information on coffee enemas. Just how safe and effective are they in cancer therapy? --W.W.

A. Nothing in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) causes more derision than coffee enemas. "How do you take it...with cream or sugar?" To orthodox oncology this is the height of hilarity. I like a good joke, but I think the joke may eventually be on orthodox medicine rather than on CAM.

Coffee enemas were introduced around the turn of the last century. They were included for years in the "official" Merck Manual as a form of cleansing the intestines, until the mid-1970s, when they were dropped because of space limitations. Coffee enemas were introduced into cancer therapy in the 1930s by Max Gerson, M.D., a German-Jewish refugee from Hitler, whose ideas on diet were far ahead of their time. A peer-reviewed study by Gar Hildenbrand and colleagues at the Gerson Research Organization has shown that the Gerson diet has some value for melanoma and possibly some other cancers. Coffee enemas probably play a role in this.

At the present time, coffee enemas are central to the Kelley dietary treatment, as practiced by Nicholas Gonzalez, MD. Dr. Gonzalez recently published a peer-reviewed paper on his beneficial treatment of pancreatic cancer. His work is the subject of a $1.4 million clinical trial at Columbia University, funded by the National Cancer Institute. Patients are being randomized to receive either chemotherapy or the Gonzalez regimen, which includes coffee enemas.

That said, you should understand that coffee is not an anticancer substance per se, . The theory behind its use is to stimulate the liver and gall bladder to greater activity, thus aiding in the "detoxification" of the body. In my view, this is a plausible theory, but not a fact. Green coffee contains two substances,kaweol and cafestrol, that can stimulate a prominent detoxification enzyme system in animals {J Med Chem 1987 Aug;30(8):1399-403}. Whether brewed coffee has a similar effect in humans is not known.

There have been reports in the medical literature of sickness or even death following the abuse of coffee enemas in patients. But one or two coffee enemas per day, especially under a doctor's supervision, seem harmless. The danger consists of getting your electrolytes out of balance. This can probably be overcome by drinking some fruit juice before taking the enema.

In addition, Moss Reports clients can ask questions directly to Dr. Moss's associate, Anne Beattie by emailing her at TMRAnne@aol.com.

If you have questions about purchasing a Moss Report for a particular kind of cancer, you can call our office at 718-636-4433 or you can order your Moss Report BY CLICKING HERE via our secure order form, and ask your question in the box provided

Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. is director of the The Moss Reports for cancer patients. Dr. Moss is the author of eleven books and three documentaries on cancer-related topics. He is or has been an advisor on alternative cancer treatments to the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the American Urological Association, Columbia University, the University of Texas, the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the German Society of Oncology. He wrote the first article on alternative medicine for the Encyclopedia Britannica yearbook. He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in the East, and Who's Who in Entertainment (as a film documentarian). This Web site does not advocate any particular treatment for cancer. We urge you to always seek competent medical advice for all health problems, especially cancer. Before consulting our site please read our full Disclaimer statement.

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