Johanna Budwig

{{short description|German biochemist}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Johanna Budwig |image = Johanna_Budwig.png |image_size = |caption = |birth_name = |birth_date = 1908<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/> |birth_place = Essen |residence = |citizenship = |death_date = 2003<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/> |death_place = Freudenstadt |field = Biochemistry |work_institution = |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = }} '''Johanna Budwig''' (1908 – 2003) was a German biochemist, alternative cancer treatment advocate and writer.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020">Kerckhof, Annette. (2020). ''Budwig, Johanna (1908–2003)''. In ''Wichtige Frauen in der Naturheilkunde''. Springer. pp. 65-69. {{ISBN|978-3-662-60458-8}}</ref> Budwig was a pharmacist and held doctorate degrees in physics and chemistry.<ref name= "Mannion2010">{{cite journal |first1= C. |last1= Mannion |first2= S. |last2= Page |first3= L.H. |last3= Bell |first4= M. |last4= Verhoef |title= Components of an anticancer diet: Dietary recommendations, restrictions and supplements of the Bill Henderson Protocol |journal= Nutrients |year= 2010 |volume= 3 |issue= 1 |pages= 1–26 |doi= 10.3390/nu3010001 |pmid= 22254073 |pmc= 3257729 |doi-access= free }}</ref> Based on her research on fatty acids she developed a lacto-vegetarian diet that she believed was useful in the treatment of cancer. There is no clinical evidence that the Budwig diet is effective, and it may cause adverse effects.<ref name=cruk/><ref name=Hübner2012/>

==Biography==

Budwig was born in Essen and at the age of 16 joined the Kaiserswerth Deaconess Institute.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/> She studied pharmacy in Königsberg and Münster where she met her mentor Prof. Hans Kaufmann the founder of the German Institute for Fat Research. She worked under Kaufmann as a research assistant and completed her doctorate in 1939.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/>

While working as a researcher at the German Federal Health Office, she noted that many cancer drugs being evaluated in the 1950s contained sulphydryl groups. Budwig believed that sulphydryl compounds were important to cellular metabolism and cellular respiration.<ref name= "Mannion2010"/> She researched the theory that a low oxygen environment would develop in the absence of sulphydryl groups and/or fatty acid partners that would encourage the proliferation of cancerous cells.<ref name= "Mannion2010"/> With Kaufmann, she developed paper chromatography techniques to identify and quantify fatty acids.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/><ref name= "Mannion2010"/> Budwig used these techniques to compare the fatty acid profiles of sick and healthy individuals.<ref name= "Mannion2010"/> In 1950, Budwig and Kaufmann presented their findings at the International Fat Congress on "New approaches in fat analysis".<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/> She argued that highly heated and chemically modified fats found primarily in margarine were dangerous to human health. In 1951, Budwig was chief expert for pharmaceuticals and fats in the Federal Institute for Fat Research but resigned over controversy due to her critical statements about trans fatty acids.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/>

Budwig came to the conclusion that industrial processed fats were a strain on health and caused cardiovascular disease and cancer, whilst polyunsaturated fatty acids were protective.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/> She argued that linseed oil which contains alpha-Linolenic acid, an essential omega-3 fatty acid and sulphur proteins in the form of low-fat quark or cottage cheese are a great importance in the diet.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/> She became known for her "Budwig Creme", for which linseed oil, milk and low-fat quark are stirred together until no oil is left.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/>

Budwig died in Freudenstadt in 2003, at the age of 94, as a result of a femoral neck fracture.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/>

==The Budwig Diet== In 1952, she described a diet which she claimed had anti-cancer effects. She called it the “Budwig protocol”.<ref name="ACSF">{{cite web |publisher= American Cancer Society |url= http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Flaxseed.asp?sitearea=ETO |title= Flaxseed |date= 2011-10-14 |access-date= 2014-03-18 |website= cancer.org |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100329054117/http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Flaxseed.asp?sitearea=ETO |archive-date= 2010-03-29 }}</ref><ref name="ACSO3">{{cite web |publisher= American Cancer Society |url= http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Omega-3_Fatty_Acids.asp?sitearea=ETO |title= Omega-3 Fatty Acids |website= cancer.org |date= 2013-01-17 |access-date= 2014-03-18 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090608234220/http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Omega-3_Fatty_Acids.asp?sitearea=ETO |archive-date= 2009-06-08 }}</ref> The focus of this diet is on modifying the intake of dietary fats.<ref name= "Mannion2010"/> It is a lacto-vegetarian diet rich in flaxseed oil and other cold-pressed vegetable oils, mixed with cottage cheese and meals high in fruits, vegetables with sauerkraut, freshly squeezed juices, nuts and seeds. The diet avoids animal fats, butter, margarine, meat, seafood and sugar.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/><ref name="Käsmayr 2017"/> She recommended the consumption of garlic, leeks or onions as these plants contain proteins with sulphur content.<ref name="Kerckhof 2020"/> Her dietary ideas inspired the research of Catherine Kousmine.<ref name="Käsmayr 2017">Käsmayr, Anneli. (2017). ''Culinary Turn Aesthetic Practice of Cookery''. Transcript Verlag. p. 165. {{ISBN|978-3-8376-3031-2}}</ref>

There is no clinical evidence supporting the claims of the Budwig diet against cancer.<ref name=cruk>{{cite web |title=Budwig diet |publisher= Cancer Research UK |url= http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/budwig-diet |website= cancerresearchuk.org |date= 21 December 2018}}</ref><ref name= "Hübner2012">{{Cite journal |last1= Hübner |first1= J. |last2= Marienfeld |first2= S. |last3= Abbenhardt |first3= C. |last4= Ulrich |first4= C.M. |last5= Löser |first5= C. |display-authors= 4 |title= Wie sinnvoll sind 'Krebsdiäten'? |trans-title= How useful are diets against cancer? |journal= Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift |volume= 137 |issue= 47 |pages= 2417–22 |year= 2012 |doi = 10.1055/s-0032-1327276 |pmid= 23152069 |s2cid= 76124925 |language= DE}}</ref><ref name= "ACSF"/> Adverse effects of the diet have included malnutrition, stomach ache, flatulence, and allergic reactions.<ref name=cruk/><ref name= "Hübner2012"/>

People with cancer who delay or forgo effective treatments as a result of using diets such as the Budwig Diet might suffer relapse, experience unnecessary disease progression, and experience continuing cancer-related symptoms.<ref name= "Huebner2014">{{Cite journal |last1= Huebner |first1= J. |last2= Marienfeld |first2= S. |last3= Abbenhardt |first3= C. |last4= Ulrich |first4= C. |last5= Muenstedt |first5= K. |last6= Micke |first6= O. |last7= Muecke |first7= R. |last8= Loeser |first8= C. |display-authors= 4 |title= Counseling patients on cancer diets: A review of the literature and recommendations for clinical practice |journal= Anticancer Research |volume= 34 |issue= 1 |pages= 39–48 |year= 2014 |pmid= 24403443 |url= http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/34/1/39.long}}</ref>

==Selected publications==

*''Flax Oil as a True Aid against Arthritis, Heart Infarction and Cancer'' (1994) *''The Oil Protein Diet Cookbook'' (2006)

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184041/https://portal.d-nb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=Johanna+Budwig Works by Budwig in the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek]

Category:1908 births Category:2003 deaths Category:20th-century German inventors Category:Alternative cancer treatment advocates Category:Cancer researchers Category:German biochemists Category:German pharmacists Category:German vegetarianism activists Category:Pseudoscientific diet advocates Category:German women biochemists Category:Vegetarian cookbook writers Category:20th-century women inventors Category:Writers from Essen Category:German women activists Category:Women cancer researchers