Breuss juice cure

Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield · Rudolf Breuss · 1978 · Austria

What it is

The Breuss cure (German Breuss-Kur, also marketed as Krebskur total) is a fixed-length, juice-and-herbal-tea-only fast devised by Rudolf Breuss (1899–1990), an Austrian electrician who became a naturopath, and set out in his book first published in 1978, later issued in English as The Breuss Cancer…

Format

• Format. Usually self-administered at home from the book or a bottled product; it is not delivered in sessions. Some naturopaths and fasting clinics may supervise it.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Who practises it and regulation.
• Practitioners: self-help readers; naturopaths and German Heilpraktiker. There is no certifying body for the Breuss cure.
• Regulatory status (one line): an unregulated self-administered diet; sale of the juice as food is lawful, cancer-treatment claims are not lawful in the UK. Evidence status (one line): no evidence of benefit; documented cachexia and marked weight loss.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Core idea of change, as Breuss held it. Breuss proposed that cancer cells depend on solid food and cannot live on vegetable juices, so that during the fast the tumour is "starved" while the body survives; he also claimed the regimen prevented cancer and helped other "apparently incurable" diseases.…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Fear of retaliation from a group; protect the client's confidentiality where possible.
• Fasting becoming compulsive (overlap with 4.6). Working: less time spent on checking, cleansing and worry.
• Shame about doubts, isolation from family, escalating spending. Working: the client feels free to question the group.
• Complicated grief, self-blame, family estrangement. Working: the family can talk to each other and to the medical team.
• Defensiveness, which suggests the client expects disapproval; slow the pace. A client who discloses more over time is a sign it is working.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.