The Flaxseed Oil and Cottage Cheese Diet:
A natural cancer cure or hoax?

Can you cure cancer and fight disease with a flaxseed oil and cottage cheese diet?

Do an internet search for 'natural cancer cures' and you may come across websites about a German doctor named Dr. Johanna Budwig.

Dr. Budwig was one of Germany's leading biochemists and was an expert on fats and oils.

She claimed a diet based on flaxseed oil and cottage cheese would prevent or cure cancer and chronic diseases.

Dr. Budwig was also a cancer researcher in Europe. She believed the blood of cancer patients is deficient in important nutrients, including phosphatides and lipoproteins (fats bound to protein molecules). Her research showed cancer cells divide and grow like wild fire when you're nutrient-deficient.

She proposed that eating a diet high in hydrogenated and processed fats will produce lipoproteins your body can't use. These unused lipo-proteins block your circulation, affect your heart function, and impede the flow of blood and lymph fluids. Dr. Budwig believes these unused lipoproteins slow down the bio-electrical activity of your body resulting in diseases and cancer.

Introducing the Budwig Diet: Flaxseed Oil and Cottage Cheese

The Budwig Diet replaces unhealthy fats with flaxseed oil and cottage cheese. Some healthy fats need to be bound with protein to be properly absorbed. Dr. Budwig recommends organic cottage cheese as a protein source and organic flaxseed oil as a healthy fat source. Mixing cottage cheese with flaxseed oil supplies your body with an abundant supply of lipoproteins.

Dr. Budwig claimed when cancer patients followed this diet for at least 3 months, their cancer tumors gradually shrank. She noted other symptoms of cancer, diabetes, and liver problems were completely cured on this diet.

Dr. Budwig had used this treatment for over 10 years - treating patients where other mainstream remedies have failed. She claimed it prevented or cured:

• Cancer
• Arteriosclerosis
• Strokes
• Fatty liver
• Bronchial spasms
• Stomach ulcers
• Prostatic hypertrophy
• Alleviate arthritis symptoms
• Eczema
• Immune Deficiency Syndromes (multiple sclerosis)

Flaxseed Oil and Cottage Cheese Recipe

Here's a copy of the Budwig diet recipe I found from other internet sites:

• 1 cup Organic cottage cheese (low fat)
• 2 - 5 Tbsp. of organic flax seeed oil
• 1 - 3 Tbsp. of freshly ground up flaxseed
• Add enough water to make it soft
• Optional ingredients: dash of cayenne, honey, fresh fruit

These ingredients were to be mixed well in a blender.

Of course there's more to this diet than just flaxseed oil and cottage cheese. The Budwig Diet also recommends:

• Absolutely no sugar
• No animal fats or salad oils
• No meat (due to chemicals and hormones)
• No butter or margarine
• Plenty of fresh squeezed vegetable juices
• 2 spoonfuls ground flax seeds mixed with yogurt every morning

If you do a search on the internet, I'm sure you'll find more detailed information on this controversial diet and the lifestyle changes that go with it.

Does the Budwig Diet Really Work?

Now the big question you're probably asking, "Is this really a natural cure for cancer?"

There are many followers of the Budwig Diet. I googled "Budwig diet + testimonials" and got back dozens of pages of testimonials. There are people using flaxseed oil and cottage cheese claiming it cured them of cancer and other chronic diseases.

I also did a catalog search at the website for the National Library of Medicine, and couldn't find any studies or research on the flaxseed oil and cottage cheese diet. I also couldn't find any published studies by Dr. Budwig.

Apparently, Dr. Budwig was vilified by the medical establishment and fought many legal battles with the German commercial food oil industries. She also had disagreements with the German pharmaceutical industry and the cancer industry. It seems mainstream journals and publishing houses refused to publish her clinical studies and research because it was so controversial.

Conclusions:

I couldn't imagine the feelings if I was diagnosed with cancer. Would I follow such a diet? There's nothing harmful about the diet but I would still follow my doctor's advice for treating my disease. Eating flax seed oil and cottage cheese isn't dangerous by any means. What's harmful is if someone followed this diet, refused to follow their doctor's treatment plan, and ended up dying of their disease. That would be the real tragedy. We all need to be informed patients and work with our doctors and care-givers to help make the journey to wellness as fast as possible.