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{{short description|Russian physician and alternative cancer treatment advocate}}
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[[File:Catherine Kousmine (1989) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|1989]]
{{Infobox person
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'''Catherine Kousmine''' (September 17, 1904 in Hvalynsky, Russia – August 24, 1992 in [[Lutry]], Switzerland) was a [[Russians|Russian]] scientist who believed in nutritionally based medicine.
| name = Catherine Kousmine
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| image = Catherine Kousmine (1989) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg
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| birth_date = 17 September 1904
| birth_place = [[Khvalynsk|Hvalynsky]]
| death_date = {{d-da|24 August 1992|17 September 1904}}
| death_place = [[Lutry]]
| occupation = Physician}}
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'''Catherine Kousmine''' (17 September 1904 in [[Khvalynsk|Hvalynsky]], Russia – 24 August 1992 in [[Lutry]], Switzerland) was a [[Russians|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 evidence that it is effective.<ref name=tot/>
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.<ref name=tot>{{cite book|author1=Simon Singh|author2=Edzard Ernst|title=Trick Or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5m6CKTEr3I0C&pg=PA295|date=17 August 2008|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-06661-6|page=295}}</ref>


==Life==
==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]].<ref name=obit>{{cite news|newspaper=The Times|title=Catherine Kousmine Obituary|date=8 September 1992}}</ref> 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.
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]].<ref name=obit>{{cite news|newspaper=The Times|title=Catherine Kousmine Obituary|date=8 September 1992}}</ref> 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 a foundation in her name in [[Lutry]], Switzerland, to promote her methods: Fondation Catherine Kousmine. It has sister foundations in France, Germany and Italy. There is also a Kousmine Medical Center in [[Vevey]], Switzerland.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.solvida.org/les-centre-de-soins/index.html|title=Les Centre de soins|last=Kousmine|first=Fondation|website=www.solvida.org|access-date=2016-11-02}}</ref>


==Work==
==Work==
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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;<ref name=abgrall>{{cite book|author=Jean-Marie Abgrall|title=Healing Or Stealing?: Medical Charlatans in the New Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kel6_1aN5JwC&pg=PA83|date=1 January 2000|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-1-892941-28-2|pages=82–83}}</ref> vitamins supplements are also incorporated.<ref name=fh>{{cite book|author1=Committee on Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status and Strategies for the Future|author2=Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health|author3=Institute of Medicine|title=Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status and Strategies for the Future |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-UudMz742BwC&pg=PA405|date=10 July 2001|publisher=National Academies Press|isbn=978-0-309-17130-4|page=405}}</ref>

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Kousmine advocated a restrictive diet as a basis for treating a number of human ailments, especially cancer. The diet, that Dr. Kousmine provided as a complement to mainstream medicine and not as an alternative, always empathizes fruits, vegetables and grain and particularly advocates a grain- and seed-based breakfast;<ref name=abgrall>{{cite book|author=Jean-Marie Abgrall|title=Healing Or Stealing?: Medical Charlatans in the New Age|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=kel6_1aN5JwC&pg=PA83|date=1 January 2000|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-1-892941-28-2|pages=82–83}}</ref> vitamins supplements are also incorporated.<ref name=fh>{{cite book|author1=Committee on Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status and Strategies for the Future|author2=Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health|author3=Institute of Medicine|title=Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status and Strategies for the Future |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-UudMz742BwC&pg=PA405|date=10 July 2001|publisher=National Academies Press|isbn=978-0-309-17130-4|page=405}}</ref>

She decided to conduct research in cancer, mostly because of the death from cancer of two children in her care while she was working as a general practitioner. For seventeen years, working in a makeshift laboratory in her kitchen, she studied a special breed of mice that develop mammalian cancer at four months of age. She believed she discovered a correlation between a [[healthy diet]] and a [[Remission (medicine)|remission]] of their cancer and became convinced that the cure for diseases sometimes labeled "incurable" involves the return to a healthy feeding habit - one that provides all the nutrients that the organism needs to function properly. Consequently, she focused her attention on healthy diet. In 1949, she claimed to have treated with success her first of many cancer patients, this one suffering from [[reticulo-sarcoma]], a tumor of the heart, thanks in part to the use of a healthy diet

Kousmine's first book, of 1955, advocated delaying cancer surgery while the diet was followed — causing considerable controversy at the time.<ref name=obit/>

There is no evidence that the diet is effective for the treatment of cancer or multiple sclerosis.<ref name=abgrall/><ref name=fh/> [[Edzard Ernst]] and [[Simon Singh]] list the Kousmine diet among the many in [[alternative medicine]] which are being promoted on the basis of unsubstantiated health claims.<ref name=tot>{{cite book|author1=Simon Singh|author2=Edzard Ernst|title=Trick Or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5m6CKTEr3I0C&pg=PA295|date=17 August 2008|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-06661-6|page=295}}</ref>


==Awards==
==Awards==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2013}}
* 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 1985, the [[Société d'Encouragement au Progrès]] gave her the Médaille de Vermeil<ref>[http://dr.ceria.free.fr/spip.php?article96&lang=fr Alternative Therapies website, ''Doctor Catherine Kousmine'', article by J P Ceria, published on 31 October 2007]</ref> for her outstanding accomplishment with multiple sclerosis.<ref>[https://www.lapajareramagazine.com/catherine-kousmine La Pajarera Magazine website, ''Catherine Kousmine'', article by Maria Toca dated July 24th, 2018]</ref>
* In 1989, she was made an honorary citizen of [[Lutry]], [[Switzerland]].
*In 1989, she was made an honorary citizen of [[Lutry]], [[Switzerland]].


==Publications==
==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
*''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
*''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
*''Sauvez votre corps'' (Save your body), éditions Robert Laffont, 1987, {{ISBN|2-290-33632-7}};<ref>[https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/sauvez-corps/author/kousmine-catherine/ ABE Books website, ''Sauvez votre corps'']</ref> this is a sequel to ''Soyez bien dans votre assiette'', with more cases and in-depth explanations


==See also==
==See also==
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{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


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{{Authority control}}
==External links==
* [http://www.kousmine.ch Centre médical Kousmine]
* [http://www.msif.org/en/ Multiple sclerosis international federation]
* [http://www.kousmine.fr kousmine.fr]
* [http://www.kousmine.net kousmine.net Il sito italiano del Metodo Kousmine]

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{{Authority control|VIAF=4949097}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME =Kousmine, Catherine
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Russian scientist
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| DATE OF BIRTH = September 17, 1904
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = August 24, 1992
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kousmine, Catherine}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kousmine, Catherine}}
[[Category:Swiss general practitioners]]
[[Category:Women nutritionists]]
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:Alternative cancer treatments]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss women scientists]]
[[Category:Swiss nutritionists]]
[[Category:Alternative cancer treatment advocates]]
[[Category:Biologically based therapies]]
[[Category:Biologically based therapies]]
[[Category:Orthomolecular medicine]]
[[Category:Orthomolecular medicine advocates]]
[[Category:People in alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Pseudoscientific diet advocates]]
[[Category:Swiss scientists]]
[[Category:Russian pediatricians]]
[[Category:Women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss physicians]]
[[Category:20th-century women scientists]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland]]

Latest revision as of 22:32, 3 July 2024

Catherine Kousmine
Born17 September 1904
Hvalynsky
Died24 August 1992 (1992-08-25) (aged 87)
Lutry
OccupationPhysician

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Publications

[edit]
  • 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;[8] this is a sequel to Soyez bien dans votre assiette, with more cases and in-depth explanations

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "Catherine Kousmine Obituary". The Times. 8 September 1992.
  3. ^ Kousmine, Fondation. "Les Centre de soins". www.solvida.org. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Alternative Therapies website, Doctor Catherine Kousmine, article by J P Ceria, published on 31 October 2007
  7. ^ La Pajarera Magazine website, Catherine Kousmine, article by Maria Toca dated July 24th, 2018
  8. ^ ABE Books website, Sauvez votre corps
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