Dr. Josh Axe, DNM, DC, CNS, is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist and author with a passion to help people get well using food as medicine. This is an article by Dr. Axe for 10 natural cancer treatments. Personally I would start with number 10 first. Do comment below.
Have you ever wondered how effective natural cancer treatments can be?
Around 20 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
This was crazy for my family at the time because my mom was a gym teacher, swim instructor and was always considered to be “healthy.”
After her diagnosis, she took the advice of her oncologists at the Cleveland Clinic and underwent a mastectomy followed by many rounds of chemotherapy. I can still remember seeing my mom’s hair fall out and thinking she had aged 10 years in the few weeks following chemo.
Praise God, after all of her treatments, she was diagnosed as being “cancer-free” and healthy. But for the next several years, she was sicker than she’d ever been in her life and struggled with constipation, candida, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Then, around nine years after her first diagnosis, a terrible thing happened: She was diagnosed with cancer again. At that point, I had experience working in the natural health field, so when I flew home, we prayed together and talked about the best healthcare strategy. She decided to pursue natural cancer treatments by focusing on diet and lifestyle changes.
My mom started following an all-natural plan that included vegetable juicing, probiotic foods, immune-boosting supplements, stress reducing techniques and prayer. And after only four months, the tumors on her lungs had shrunk significantly and one year after that, she was again diagnosed as being “cancer-free” and healthy. It’s now been 10 years and my mom recently turned 60 years old — and she is in the best shape of her life, regularly water skiing, running and still going strong.
I want to be clear: I am not claiming that what we did with my mother is a cancer cure. But I believe these natural therapies, either used by themselves or in conjunction with conventional medical treatments, may support the body in the healing process.
I am often asked, “What exactly did your mom do?” Here are the natural cancer treatments and strategies she followed to heal her body.
Most Effective Natural Cancer Treatments
- The Gerson Therapy and Juicing
Who was Albert Schweitzer talking about?
He was referring to Dr. Max Gerson, the German-born American medical doctor who developed one of the most effective natural cancer treatments over 90 years ago. Coined the “Gerson Therapy,” Dr. Gerson helped hundreds of cancer patients activate their body’s extraordinary ability to heal itself by recommending:
Organic, plant-based foods
Raw juices
Coffee enemas
Beef liver
Natural supplements
In the words of the Gerson Institute:
"With its whole-body approach to healing, the Gerson Therapy naturally reactivates your body’s magnificent ability to heal itself — with no damaging side effects. This a powerful, natural treatment boosts the body’s own immune system to heal cancer, arthritis, heart disease, allergies, and many other degenerative diseases." (1)
How the Gerson Therapy Works
The Gerson Therapy targets the most significant metabolic requirements in your body. How? Believe it or not, this therapy allows you to reap the nutritional benefits of consuming 15–20 pounds of organically grown fruits and vegetables each day! Here’s the breakdown:
The Gerson Diet – Consisting of eating only organic fruits, vegetables and sprouted ancient grains, the Gerson Diet is exceptionally rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes. It’s also very low in fats, proteins and sodium. The meal plan advises cancer patients to drink 13 glasses of freshly prepared juice, eat three plant-based meals, and only snack on fresh fruits each day. Also, the traditional Gerson Therapy recommends consuming raw beef liver since it is the most nutrient-dense food on the planet and extremely high in vitamin B12.
Juicing – According to the Gerson Institute, “Fresh pressed juice from raw foods provides the easiest and most effective way of providing high quality nutrition.” The cancer-fighting protocol calls for patients to drink fresh vegetables each day, including raw carrots or apples and green-leaf juice. To preserve the nutritional content, the juice should be prepared hourly using a two-step juicer or a masticating juicer used with a separate hydraulic press. This helps prevent denaturation — when vitamins, minerals and enzymes are destroyed. (Most commercial juicers spin so fast that they heat up juice to the point they are basically pasteurized!)
Detoxification – The Gerson Therapy utilizes coffee enemas as the primary method of detoxing the body by increasing the parasympathetic nervous system. For cancer patients, this may take up to five enemas each day. The importance of keeping the body free of toxins is stressed by Dr. Gerson’s daughter, Charlotte:
"The moment a patient is put on the full therapy, the combined effect of the food, the juices and the medication causes the immune system to attack and kill tumor tissue, besides working to flush out accumulated toxins from the body tissues. This great clearing-out procedure carries the risk of overburdening and poisoning the liver — the all-important organ of detoxification, which, in a cancer patient, is bound to be already damaged and debilitated."
Supplements – The Gerson Therapy recommends the following organic medicinal therapies:
Lugol’s solution
Pancreatic enzymes
Potassium compound
Thyroid hormone
Vitamin B12
- The Budwig Protocol
In 1952, Dr. Johanna Budwig was the German Government’s Senior Expert on lipids and pharmacology and was considered one of the leading global authorities on fats and oils. During her research, she discovered that many of the conventional processed fats and hydrogenated oils were destroying the membranes of our cells, and this caused diseased cells and toxicity.
Developing a specific diet — in this case, the Budwig diet protocol — to counteract this cancer-causing process, Dr. Budwig claimed to have had over a 90 percent success rate with her protocol over a 50-year period!
How the Budwig Protocol Works
When you replace deadly processed fats and oils with life-giving unsaturated/saturated fatty acids, your cells rebuild and are rejuvenated. Dr. Budwig found that consuming a mixture of cottage cheese, flaxseeds, and flaxseed oil had the best results. (2)
When cottage cheese (which is rich in sulfur protein and saturated fats) and flax (which is high in electron-rich unsaturated fatty acids) are combined this way, your body is able to absorb these vital nutrients easier and quicker.
My “Beyond Budwig” Recipe
Because of the changes in agriculture, I suggest this updated 21st century version of the Budwig Protocol:
6 ounces cultured dairy (cottage cheese, goat’s milk kefir or amasai)
4 tablespoons sprouted and ground chia or flax
1 tablespoon flaxseed oil
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Mix all the ingredients together in bowl or blender and consume once daily.
- Proteolytic Enzyme Therapy
In 1906, John Beard first proposed that pancreatic proteolytic enzymes represent the body’s main defense against cancer. Beard focused on high dose porcine-based pancreatic enzyme therapy and eating a holistic diet to create an internal environment in which the body can more thoroughly heal itself. (3)
While it wasn’t researched for most of the 20th century, a few scientists picked up the concept in the 1960s. But it wasn’t until Nicholas J. Gonzalez, MD started to evaluate the concept at Cornell University Medical College in 1981 that people started to seriously consider this natural approach.
How the Pancreatic Proteolytic Enzyme Approach Works
The autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic (“fight” or “flight”) and autonomic (“rest” and “digest”) nervous systems. Basing his protocol off of Dr. Francis Pottenger’s research in the 1920s and 1930s, Gonzalez’s work centers on balancing these two systems, as they are suspected to be one of the major causes of cancer.
He discovered that a vegetarian diet suppresses sympathetic function, whereas the opposite is true with a meat-rich diet. So after dividing patients into different categories based of their metabolic differences, genetic and physical make-up, here are the recommendations:
People with epithelial tumors like lung, pancreas, colon, prostate, uterine cancers are prescribed a largely plant-based diet with minimal to no animal protein.
People with blood or immune based tumors like leukemia, myeloma or lymphoma are put on a high-animal protein, high-fat diet with minimal-to-moderate plant foods.
In addition, these physicians recommend taking 5 grams of proteolytic enzymes 3 times daily on an empty stomach between meals to reduce inflammation.
According to Dr. Josef Beuth, the research behind this natural cancer treatment is pretty airtight:
"These studies demonstrated that systemic enzyme therapy significantly decreased tumor-induced and therapy-induced side effects and complaints such as nausea, gastrointestinal complaints, fatigue, weight loss, and restlessness and obviously stabilized the quality of life." (4)
- Vitamin C Chelation
Chelation therapy uses chemicals or natural compounds to remove toxic metals from the body. The word “chelate” means to grab onto something, which describes chelating agents’ ability to grab onto toxins.
Generally, only holistic doctors and naturopaths use chelation therapy because it is not an officially “approved therapy” for most conditions in medicine today. When it is employed in the medical system, however, it is most commonly used to remove calcium deposits from arteries.
In a study published in Free Radical Biology & Medicine, vitamin C chelation therapy was found to be highly pro-oxidant after just one hour of treatment. This benefit lasted more than 16 treatments in the absence of nutrient supplementation and even provided “beneficial long-term antioxidant effects.” (5)
Pro-oxidation isn’t always good, but in this case it is.
It was discovered that, “Pro-oxidant effects appear to be responsible for destroying tumor cells. These pro-oxidant effects may also induce endogenous antioxidant systems in normal tissues that offer protection against carcinogenic insult!”
Along with vitamin C chelation, consuming more vitamin C-rich foods may also prevent and fight cancer. (6)
- Frankincense Essential Oil Therapy
Dr. Budwig recommends frankincense essential oil (especially when it comes to fighting brain tumors). And now research trials highlighting frankincense’s potential canter-fighting abilities are filling medical journals. Specifically, Indian Frankincense (Boswellia serrata) has been shown clinically to being a potentially effective treatment for:
Brain cancer
Breast cancer
Colon cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Prostate cancer
Stomach cancer (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
According to researchers out of Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, the potential cancer-killing effects of frankincense are due in part to its ability to influence your genes to promote healing. Baylor cancer scientists emphasize that this potency makes Boswellia serrata a viable candidate for both cancer prevention and treatment!
How Frankincense Essential Oil Therapy Works
Rub frankincense essential oil on your neck three times daily. Also, drink three drops in 8 ounces of water three times daily.
- Probiotic Foods and Supplements
Best known as “good bacteria,” probiotics are microorganisms that promote a natural balance in your intestinal microflora. The best way to include probiotics in your diet is in their most natural state, which includes raw milk products such as cheese, kefir and yogurt.
Recent research has suggested that probiotic supplementation may be able to stop tumor growth. (12) And this makes perfect sense because 80 percent of your immune system is housed in your gut. In addition to supporting your immunity to disease, research has also shown that probiotics can improve digestive function and mineral absorption as well as aid in healing leaky gut, which all contribute to helping prevent cancer!
- Sunshine and Vitamin D3
Science continues to support the fact that high levels of heart healthy, fat-soluble vitamins and minerals are key to keeping your body free of cancer. And recently, there has been considerable progress regarding the role that fat-soluble vitamin D3 plays in cancer prevention.
Research studies are mounting and a 2007 randomized placebo controlled double blind clinical trial suggests that vitamin D may be a highly effective way to help prevent cancer.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is truly groundbreaking as it evaluated nearly 1,200 postmenopausal women for four years and tracked how a 1400-1500 milligram supplement of calcium compared to a calcium supplement plus 1,100 IU vitamin D3 in preventing cancer. (13)
The results were amazing. After just one year of vitamin D3-added supplementation, the risk of developing all cancer types was decreased by an astounding 77 percent! Compared to the 0 percent improvement in the placebo and calcium supplement only groups, this is truly remarkable!
The Best Way to Get Vitamin D
To best prevent breast cancer, research suggests you should supplement so that your vitamin D3 levels are at least 40-60 ng/ml and up to 80 ng/ml.
The sweet spot you’re shooting for is 50-70 ng/ml. Here’s the best way to get there:
Optimize vitamin D3 through 20 minutes of sun exposure everyday. This is best done by exposing 40 percent of your body to the sun between 10 am and 2 pm.
Take an oral supplement containing around 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily. Because they are fat-soluble, make sure that you take them with some healthy “fatty” foods containing coconut oil or a probiotic-rich drink like kefir.
It can be challenging to find a pure supplement on the market, so try to find a combination formula of astaxanthin, omega-3 fish oil and vitamin D3.
- Turmeric and Curcumin
While the link between curcumin and disease reversal has been widely examined, the use of this spice in relation to cancer is one of the most thoroughly researched topics.
A number of laboratory studies on cancer cells suggest that curcumin does have anticancer effects. It seems to be able to fight cancer cells and prevent more from growing. It seems to be most effective against breast cancer, bowel cancer, stomach cancer and skin cancer cells.
In fact, a 2007 laboratory study showed that the combined treatment of curcumin with chemotherapy eliminated more bowel cancer cells than chemotherapy alone.
Other laboratory studies have also shown that curcumin interferes with cancer development, growth and spread. And researchers have reported that curcumin blocked the formation of cancer-causing enzymes in rodents.
Bottom line: Evidence suggests that in general turmeric works well to help stop cancer in its tracks and is especially effective at helping to treat breast cancer, colon cancer and skin cancer.
- Oxygen Therapy and Hyperbaric Chambers
Dr. Warburg made it clear that the root cause of cancer is oxygen deficiency, which creates an acidic state in the human body. He also discovered that cancer cells do not breathe oxygen and cannot survive in the presence of high levels of oxygen, as found in an alkaline state.
We’ve all heard that antioxidants kill free radicals in the body and reverse oxidative stress-causing chronic disease. This is one of the reasons why I love to use blueberries in my morning Berry Protein Smoothie! But is eating blueberries enough to cure cancer?
Probably not. That’s why supplementing with oxygen therapy and utilizing a hyperbaric chamber is highly beneficial for people seeking natural cancer treatments.
Because the air pressure inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber is about 2.5 times greater than the normal pressure in the atmosphere, it causes your blood to carry more oxygen to the organs and tissues in your body. Thought to heal everything from infected wounds to radiation injuries, many people claim that it has cured them of cancer. While it’s not quite mainstream yet, a growing numbers of hospitals have purchased some units to help their patients.
- Prayer and Building Peace
In addition to the many research studies that have been conducted on the healing benefits of prayer, maintaining mental peace and a positive outlook are absolutely critical to cancer prevention and treatment.
Some people utilize Eastern techniques like practicing tai chi or simply feeling gratitude, and these are highly effective in their own right. My favorite forms of meditation, however, consist of prayer, gratitude and reading the Bible.
Whatever your preference, make sure your focus is on living a stress-free lifestyle filled with peace and joy!
Bonus Therapy: Immune-Boosting Mushrooms
Mushrooms have been used in Chinese medicine for over 4,000 years, and research regarding the cordycep and reishi species and cancer therapy has been pretty straightforward. They can:
Potentially increase survival
Help shrink tumors
Boost your immune system
Reduce radiotherapy and chemotherapy side effects like nausea and hair loss (14)
Of course, these results all depend on which extracts you choose and their concentrations. Some sources even suggest that supplementing with a complementary dose of vitamin C is also necessary.