Can the Budwig diet cure cancer?

In the 1950s, German biochemist Johanna Budwig developed a diet that she believed could stop malignant cells from growing. Today, the “Budwig diet” remains a familiar name in the world of alternative cancer treatments.

One of the claims surrounding the diet is that it can stop cancer from growing.

Its best-known recipe could hardly be simpler: mix flaxseed oil with cottage cheese. According to the claim, beating cancer can be that easy. In recent years, some influencers have even started swapping the cottage cheese for quark.

Can the Budwig diet really cure cancer?

The Budwig diet is a long way from being backed by science

The Budwig diet has long been promoted as a “cancer cure”. But when we look at the scientific literature, there is little to justify that reputation.

There are no studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals that have tested whether the flaxseed oil and cheese-based diet can treat cancer in humans.

In a 2020 article, oncology professor Ting Bao and microbiologist Jyothirmai Gubili wrote that there is insufficient clinical evidence to support the Budwig diet for either cancer treatment or prevention. They advise patients to avoid the diet during and after cancer treatment.

Flaxseed is not a miracle cure

Most of the research in this area has focused on flaxseed itself. Scientists have been studying whether some of the compounds in flaxseed can affect the growth and spread of cancer cells. Laboratory and animal studies have produced some interesting results. But these findings do not yet show that the same effects occur in humans.

Much of this research centres on lignans, compounds found in flaxseed that are often described as plant oestrogens. Researchers are investigating what role they may play in some hormone-related cancers in humans.

There have also been a few small human studies. In one study involving 32 women diagnosed with breast cancer, some markers associated with tumour-cell proliferation fell in the group that consumed flaxseed. But the study was small and short-term. It did not show that flaxseed cures cancer or helps patients live longer.

The American Institute for Cancer Research also notes that human studies on flaxseed have so far been small and short in duration. More research in people is needed.

So where does the evidence leave us? A long way from showing that the Budwig diet works as a cancer treatment. There is also not enough evidence to recommend flaxseed specifically as a way to prevent cancer.

Johanna Budwig had no oncology expertise, and her claims are not considered reliable

Johanna Budwig, who developed the diet, was a German biochemist and pharmacist. There is no indication in publicly available sources that she received specialist training in oncology.

According to the biography published by the foundation established in her name, she began studying medicine in 1956 but never completed the degree. She later worked as a Heilpraktiker. In Germany, this title is not equivalent to being a qualified medical doctor. The German Federal Ministry of Health states that becoming a Heilpraktiker does not require medical training or a medical examination assessing professional clinical competence.

Supporters often point to another claim to bolster Budwig’s reputation: that she was nominated for the Nobel Prize seven times.

One person said to have nominated her was Werner Ch. Nawrocki, a German doctor who was not an oncologist and worked in naturopathy and homeopathy. In a letter, Nawrocki claimed that Budwig had cured cancer and said he had nominated her for the Nobel Prize based on his own observations. The letter is available online.

But Nobel Prize nominations are kept confidential for 50 years, so this claim about a 1979 nomination cannot currently be verified through official records. More importantly, being nominated does not mean the Nobel Committee endorsed someone’s work. The Nobel organisation itself does not consider the number of nominations a person receives to be a measure of scientific merit.

In other words, invoking “Nobel nominations” tells us very little about whether Budwig’s ideas were scientifically credible.

Today, Johanna Budwig is not regarded as a reliable authority on cancer by mainstream oncology institutions in Germany or elsewhere. She did have an academic background in the chemistry of fats. But German oncology organisations do not recognise her theories as valid scientific knowledge. German oncology guidelines state that these ideas are inconsistent with current research, and cancer organisations do not recommend the Budwig diet for people with cancer.

Unproven treatments can put all of us at risk

Diet advice without a scientific basis will often, at best, do nothing. The more serious risk is that following it can harm our health.

Recipes like these can create false hope and steer people away from treatments that have actually been shown to work.

The Budwig diet is a good example. There may be research into some of its ingredients. You may even know someone who says it helped them. But neither of those things turns a flaxseed-based recipe into a proven cancer treatment.