Budwig Diet

Dr. Johanna Budwig’s Major Discovery

In 1952, Dr. Budwig wrote in a paper entitled "On Fat Biology V. Paper Chromatography of Blood Lipoids, the Tumour Problem and Fat Research":

"It is basically proven that highly unsaturated fatty acids are the heretofore undiscovered decisive factor in respiratory enzyme function", i.e. constitute the second part of the "equation" that nobelist Otto Warburg^[1] had been unable to find.

What sounds insignificant to the layman’s ears, is arguably one of the greatest breakthroughs in medical science: from that moment onward we have known that the highly unsaturated fatty acid is the decisive factor achieving the desired effect of cellular respiratory stimulation.

Working in conjunction with sulfurated amino acids (protein)^[2], the highly unsaturated fatty acid plays a part, even the critical part, in the "bridging" taking place between fats and protein, in the absorption AND utilization of oxygen, in all growth processes, in the formation of blood and in many other processes.

Working from this theory, Dr. Budwig was able to help a great many cancer patients with the scientific oil-protein diet centered around (but far from limited to) flaxoil plus cottage cheese she designed (the "Budwig diet"), which allows cancer cells to start "breathing" again. A few physicians followed in her footsteps, such as Dr. Dan C. Roehm from Florida and Dr. Robert E. Willner (Miami).^[3]

Based upon her research findings, Dr. Budwig spoke out not only against processed foods and supplements ("no pills") but also against chemotherapy, radiation and drugs, and in a less categorical manner, surgery (see interview). And, rare as that may be, she also was aware of the critical importance of sunlight as well as the spiritual, mental and emotional factors in healing cancer and other illness.

That said, it is important to keep in mind that the fuller details of her published thought on healing cancer are not currently accessible to the English- and much of the German-speaking world, thus making all efforts presently undertaken at implementing and spreading the word about Dr. Budwig’s discoveries in English a grassroots movement liable to be enlarged as more details become known to the general public via correctly translated editions of more of her books.

Footnotes

1 Dr. Otto Warburg, twice Nobel Laureate, awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1931 for his research on cellular respiration, explains: "The growth of cancer cells is initiated by a relative lack of oxygen. Cancer cannot live in an oxygen-rich environment... Cancer has only one prime cause. It is the replacement of normal oxygen respiration of the body’s cells by an anaerobic (i.e., oxygen-deficient) cell respiration."

Going into greater detail in The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer, he writes: "...the cause of cancer is no longer a mystery, we know it occurs whenever any cell is denied 60% of its oxygen requirements. Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. Summarized in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar.

All normal body cells meet their energy needs by respiration of oxygen, whereas cancer cells meet their energy needs in great part by fermentation. All normal body cells are thus obligate aerobes, whereas all cancer cells are partial anaerobes." Compare Otto Warburg On The Prime Cause & Prevention of Cancer: Respiration of Oxygen in Normal Body Cells vs. Fermentation of Sugar in Cancer Cells.

2 Methionine, cystine, and cysteine and their derivatives owe their designation of "sulphurated amino acids" to the fact that they contain sulfur in addition to carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. Incidentally, they are also well-known as an effective cleaning "squad" for all toxic substances that we ingest because they attach themselves to harmful substances and pollutants and carry them out of the body. One example: methionine and cysteine aid in lead elimination (Karen Vago).

3 For European followers, also see Clinics and physicians using Dr. Budwig's approach to healing cancer.

Is there a cure for cancer? After 20 years of research

discover what this German expert thinks.

Related section

For the most comprehensive and authoritative English-language coverage worldwide of the oil-protein diet & protocol developed by Dr. Budwig, see

Budwig Diet.