Coffee Enemas: Spring Cleaning Tool or Dangerous Idea?

For many cancer patients coffee enemas, a dynamic part of The Gerson Therapy, have been embraced as a positive albeit alternative treatment for cancer patients in addition to being a way to cleanse and detoxify the bowel.

Dr. Max Gerson (1881-1959) was a German-born doctor who successfully treated Dr. Albert Schweitzer of late-life diabetes and helped hundreds of others turn from illness to health through his complete program which he brought to the US in 1936. According to its web site, The Gerson Therapy is a complex program based on hyperalimentation, "flooding the body with nutrients from almost 20 pounds of organically grown fruits and vegetables daily to make fresh raw juice, one glass every hour, 13 times per day"… eating three vegetarian meals a day, taking very specific vitamins and minerals, and avoiding heavy animal fats, excess protein, sodium and other toxins.

The other part of the program is the coffee enema made with organic coffee to "detoxify the tissues and the blood when the systems of the gut wall and liver are stimulated, and bile flow is increased." The site recommends that coffee enemas should be administered by Gerson-trained physicians or educators as part of a compete program of detoxification. For more information, visit http://www.gerson.org/g_therapy/default.asp

Proponents, both those who follow The Gerson Therapy and others use coffee enemas alone as a therapeutic technique, believe that the caffeine in coffee, combined with theophylline and theobromine, help to relax and smooth the muscles of the rectum and lower bowel. The palmitates in coffees (enzymes) then help the liver carry away the toxins in bile acid and when coffee is absorbed into the hemorrhoidal vein, it is taken up to the liver by the portal vein which enables the toxins to be evacuated with the bile.

Some critics, however, believe coffee enemas may be dangerous, particularly if self-administered. Among the dangers are adding ingredients to the enema recipe or coffee and water that may irritate, inflame or pose other dangers to the rectum or lower bowel; the risk of infection from re-using enema kits designed for only a one-time use; internal burns from liquid that is too hot; dehydration; electrolyte imbalance, or the possibility that the bowels could decrease in function because of overuse of coffee enemas.

If you believe that colonic irrigation using coffee can help ease constipation or serious illness, consider having your first enema prepared and applied by a professional colonic hydrotherapist and let the therapist know you'd like to have coffee added to the water.

While the coffee enema has strong critics, traditional saline or plain water enemas are well known for their effectiveness in relieving temporary blockage caused by constipation. In addition to water enemas, or instead of them, you may want to add the recommended three to five servings of vegetables and fruits---or more---to your diet, plus several servings of whole grains and exercise more often with vigorous walking, sit-ups and other abdominal exercises, or spend more time on the bicycle or treadmill.