By J. Evers, MD
Summary: In this preliminary report, translated from its original in German, a physician describes his success in treating multiple sclerosis using a diet of mostly raw whole foods. “Controlled examinations of my patients by experienced specialists (neurologists, internists, and ophthalmologists) acknowledge…remarkable improvements,” Dr. J. Evers writes. “Patients who had been treated by every other possible means and saw their condition get worse—and in some cases appeared entirely without hope—have been improved by my dietary treatment.” Dr. Evers treated nearly 600 patients in all, yet conventional medicine completely ignored his findings. From German Medical Weekly, 1947. Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research reprint 90.
Is It Possible to Influence Multiple Sclerosis by a Certain Diet Regime?[spacer height=”20px”]
Based on the fact that the rate of multiple sclerosis is paralleling—in an astonishing way in terms of time and regionally—the denaturation of our food by cooking, storing, and the removal of important substances, I have derived the working hypothesis that multiple sclerosis is a metabolic disease that has its cause in the denaturation of our food. That said, multiple sclerosis will effect only those people who have “locus minoris resistentiae” [low resistance] in their central nervous system.
Out of this consideration, I looked back to the primal food supply of human beings—all foods in their natural condition—with hope of finding the cure for multiple sclerosis. According to my research, the diet consisted at that time, when human beings used no cooking pots, no frying pans, and didn’t even know the use of fire, of just fruits and roots.
Since nuts and other oil-containing food are missing in our climate as necessary fat suppliers, I added [to the dietary regimen I used for treatment] milk as natural human nourishment during the suckling period and also butter as a product of milk. In addition to this, I prescribed grain berries, such as sprouted rye and wheat, as well as vitamin B1 and some whole grain bread and coarse flakes.
Other than the whole grain bread, I had my patients eat everything raw—or at least as denatured as little as possible. Milk, for instance, was fresh from the cow, not pasteurized creamery milk. When I wanted to loosen the restrictions of the basic diet during the course of treatment, I permitted raw ham and raw, streaky bacon, since the real cause of multiple sclerosis does not lie in the use of meat but in the denaturation of our food. I also permitted raw eggs.
But all fruits and roots came, of course, first in consideration, since they can be used as primal food without any variation or seasoning. Prohibited were all vegetables consisting of leaf or stems and potatoes. Furthermore, all fried, cooked, baked (except whole grain bread), and preserved foods were forbidden, as well as nicotine, coffee (and substitutes), cocoa, tea, alcohol, mustard, pepper, salt, and sugar and its substitutes. Pure bee flower honey was permitted.
It is the best to start the diet in one stroke and continue, in severe cases, for years. I refuse on principle any half treatment. [With this diet] you can never do harm. In order to observe the results of just the diet, I did not use any additional therapy. I did not order rest either, since rest could easily deceive us with mild success. The patients remained living in their home environment during the treatment.
In six years I have treated and observed nearly 600 patients. In spite of being aware of the difficulties [of assessment] given the often changing therapy [of each patient], I nevertheless believe I have achieved success by means of my dietary treatment of multiple sclerosis, with results going beyond the limits of the accustomed observations. The improvements (if we don’t want to talk about “curing” or “healing”) are more frequent, deeper, and of longer duration than we find otherwise.
Controlled examinations of my patients by experienced specialists (neurologists, internists, and ophthalmologists) acknowledge these remarkable improvements. Patients who had been treated by every other possible means and saw their condition get worse—and in some cases appeared entirely without hope—have been improved by my dietary treatment.
The longer the duration of the sickness and the more severe it is, naturally the less are expectations for success. Patients in the [early] state of sickness, recently brought into clinics, react well. But naturally nerve tissue that has been destroyed and replaced by scars [as in longtime sufferers] can never, not even by such a diet, be brought back to full function.
This preliminary report had to be shortened considerably and is without any case histories, [but hopefully it] may be used for further examinations and report of observations [by its readers].
By Dr. J. Evers, MD. Translated and reprinted by the Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research from Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift [German Medical Weekly], 72:521, September 19, 1947.
[Note from Lee Foundation:] For more specific nutritional instructions for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, we recommend the book The Pulse Test, p. 147, by Arthur F. Coca, MD, 1956; $3.75 sent on approval.[spacer height=”20px”]Reprint No. 90
Price – 2 cents
Reprinted by Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research
Milwaukee 3, Wisconsin
Note: Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research is a nonprofit, public-service institution, chartered to investigate and disseminate nutritional information. The attached publication is not literature or labeling for any product, nor shall it be employed as such by anyone. In accordance with the right of freedom of the press guaranteed to the Foundation by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the attached publication is issued and distributed for informational purposes.
