Catherine Kousmine

Catherine Kousmine (17 September 1904 in Hvalynsky, Russia – 24 August 1992 in Lutry, Switzerland) was a Russian physician who proposed an alternative cancer treatment.

Kousmine devised a restrictive diet for treating many human ailments including multiple sclerosis and cancer. There is, however, no scientific evidence that it is effective.[1]

Life

Born in 1904 into a well-to-do family in Russia, Catherine Kousmine and her parents fled the country in 1916 before the Russian revolution, settling in Lausanne.[2] The young Catherine went to the Ecole Supérieure of Lausanne where she graduated in sciences. She then went on to medical school. Upon graduation in 1928, she moved to Zurich, in professor Guido Fanconi’s unit, to specialize in pediatrics, then worked in Vienna, Austria, where she got her degree in this discipline.

Back in Switzerland, she had to resume her work as a general practitioner because her degree in pediatrics was not recognized by Swiss authorities. Dr. Kousmine spent most of her life in Switzerland. She set up the Fondation Catherine Kousmine in Lutry, Switzerland, to promote her methods. It has sister foundations in France, Germany and Italy. There is also a Kousmine Medical Center in Vevey, Switzerland.[3]

Work

Kousmine advocated a restrictive diet as a basis for treating a number of human ailments, especially cancer. The diet, that Dr. Kousmine provided as an alternative to mainstream medicine emphasizes first of all to put off saturated fats, totally for very ill people, to eat fruits, vegetables and a lot of whole grains and particularly advocates a no cooked grain- and no cooked seed-based breakfast;[4] vitamins supplements are also incorporated.[5]

Awards

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In 1985, the Société d’Encouragement au Progrès — whose headquarters are in Paris (France) — gave her the Médaille de Vermeil for her outstanding accomplishment with multiple sclerosis.
In 1989, she was made an honorary citizen of Lutry, Switzerland.
Publications
Soyez bien dans votre assiette jusqu’à 80 ans et plus (Be mindful of your diet, up to 80 and beyond), éditions Sand, 1980, ISBN 2-7107-0158-8
La sclérose en plaque est guérissable (Multiple sclerosis is curable), éditions Delachaux et Nestlé 1983, ISBN 2-603-00502-2
Sauvez votre corps (Save your body), éditions Robert Laffont, 1987, ISBN 2-290-33632-7, is a sequel to Soyez bien dans votre assiette, with more cases and in-depth explanations

References

^ Simon Singh; Edzard Ernst (17 August 2008). Trick Or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine. W. W. Norton. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-393-06661-6.
^ “Catherine Kousmine Obituary”. The Times. 8 September 1992.
^ Kousmine, Fondation. “Les Centre de soins”. www.solvida.org. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
^ Jean-Marie Abgrall (1 January 2000). Healing Or Stealing?: Medical Charlatans in the New Age. Algora Publishing. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-1-892941-28-2.
^ Committee on Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status and Strategies for the Future; Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health; Institute of Medicine (10 July 2001). Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status and Strategies for the Future. National Academies Press. p. 405. ISBN 978-0-309-17130-4.