by William Kelley Eidem
Author of The Doctor Who Cures Cancer
Revici made this important finding about cancer etiology a few years after the biochemist Otto Warburg famously announced that the cause of cancer is due to the replacement of oxygen in normal cells by the fermentation of sugar. Revici's subsequent findings went largely unnoticed, however, because the results were grievously misreported three times in a major medical journal.
Since Otto Warburg, many in the holistic health community have believed that cancer is due to hyper-acidity and that a major part of reversing cancer is to alkalize the patient. Revici found that not only does hyper-acidity produce cancer, so does constant alkalinity.
An instructive case history
It might be best to start with an example of a patient that was treated due to being too acidic andto being too alkaline at different times during her recurrent illness.
The case study that follows is particularly interesting due to how it illustrates that simply using alkalizing agents would not have worked. In fact, the patient would have died if the singular approach of alkalizing had been followed. In 1961, when Dr. Revici was awarded a medal by a prestigious group whose board included 14 Nobel Prize winning scientists, he related a case regarding a woman whom he saved three times from cancer. This patient was treated in a bygone era when patients were often not told they had cancer.
In her first bout, she had ovarian cancer with metasteses to the liver, spleen, intestine and her intestinal lining. A biopsy confirmed adenocarcinoma. Revici's testing confirmed she was too anabolic.
With treatment her cancer cleared up. That outcome, by itself, is fairly striking considering her original state.
Because she was never told she had cancer, she stopped her treatments, against Revici's advice. Two years later her cancer returned. Another biopsy confirmed adenocarcinoma. Revici's tests indicated she was too catabolic this time, however, whereas before she had the opposite anabolic imbalance.
Yet “in view of the good results obtained the first time, the treatment was started again with the same agents….the immediate result, however, was totally unfavorable subjectively and objectively.” Revici then changed to treating the over alkalinity with the result that “the new masses” disappeared.
The patient was still not told of her condition, so she continued treatment “but at very irregular intervals.” Her cancer returned yet again. She was found to be inoperable, and was once again diagnosed through biopsy with an adenocarcinoma. This time, her third, she was back to being too acidic (anabolic.)
She was given alkaline agents and her cancer once again went away. The patient was finally informed of her condition, so “she continued with her treatment without interruption. Now six years after her last recurrence, and eleven years since we first saw her, she is in perfect health.”
Revici concluded his discussion of this case with these words:
We present this case because it clearly shows how important it is to consider the specific off-balance in order to ensure the selection of the proper agents. Incidentally we also want to emphasize the direct relationship between treatment and the results obtained. The fact that, in this patient, the condition evolved three times and each time was controlled only when the adequate treatment was instituted, excludes the possibility of spontaneous remission.
In hundreds of cases, the correlation between treatment and the results obtained has been as direct as in the case presented above….
Pre-terminal or even terminal cases are now seen to respond better, that is, more often, more rapidly, and more completely with subjective and objective favorable changes.
How to evaluate a patient's acid/alkaline balance
Revici referred to these two different imbalances as “anabolic” and “catabolic.”
- Too Anabolic - urine pH consistently below 6.2 as measured at 8 am, 1 pm, 5 pm, 9 pm
- Too Catabolic - urine pH consistently above 6.2 as measured at 8 am, 1 pm, 5 pm, 9 pm
A healthy person's urine will have approximately 50% of their readings above, and 50% below, 6.2 pH, not counting readings that are at or very near 6.2 pH. Revici found that his sickest patients were the ones whose urine pH deviated the furthest from the balance point and were the most consistently in one direction or the other. (For convenience, every reference to acidic is referring to urine pH below 6.2 pH. Every reference to alkaline is for urine pH above 6.2 for purposes of this discussion.)
In a healthy person, the urine pH pattern would look as follows:
In more severe cases the imbalance can be spotted in the first day - or even the first test. For instance, an 8am alkaline reading or a 9 pm acidic reading, especially if they are severe, would be a strong indication of the particular imbalance. That is, a 5.5 pH at night or a 7.0 pH in the morning would be examples of strong imbalances.
For other patients, three days of analysis may be required to definitely establish a pattern.
By 1961, Revici had evaluated hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of urine pH analyses. Some of his sickest patients' urine pH would never cross the balance point, especially early in their treatment.
Anabolic off-balance patients would typically experience more pain in the morning, but the pain would lessen as the day progressed. In contrast, the pain of catabolic off-balance patients grew more pronounced as the day progressed.
Because the urine pH can be altered by what is eaten at a particular meal, Revici devised a test that would more accurately measure the relationship between pH and the patient's lesions.
Revici's used external lesions to see how pH of the lesions compared to pain levels and to urine pH levels. Patients were asked to record their pain levels each hour. The pH of the patients' lesions were put on a graph along with the patients' pain evaluations. Two opposite pain patterns arose.
The pain levels corresponded to the pH off-balance. Almost always, when the patient felt the most pain, their tested lesion was also the most off-balanced. Conversely, when the lesion pH corresponded to being balanced, there was less pain.
The lesions also had the opposite pH pattern from the urine. So the patterns of pain and pH could be seen.
Catabolic Imbalance
Urine pH up --> lesion pH down --> pain up
Urine pH down --> lesion pH up --> pain down
Anabolic Imbalance
Urine pH down --> lesion pH up --> pain up
Urine pH up --> lesion pH down --> pain down
Revici was able to determine through clinical experience that increased pain was directly related to increased activity of the cancer. Therefore, the administration of substances that would alter the pH to bring about “pain down” would have a positive impact on the tumor and the patient's outcome.
Indeed, this is what occurred. Anabolic patients were administered alkalizing agents to good effect, whereas catabolic patients were given acidifying agents to good effect, as Revici pointed out in his address above.
As a practical matter measuring the pH of lesions hourly would be difficult. But four daily urine pH measurements sufficed to monitor the patient. (Revici developed other methods as well, but they are beyond the scope of this paper.)
As the patient's daily diet can cause some fluctuations, so each patient's urine would be recorded on a weekly chart so that the pattern would become more obvious over time. Revici later invented a reagent that would turn either bright green or bright red in reaction to catabolic and anabolic urine, to make it easier to see the pattern. Urine close to 6.2 would turn the reagent drops brown.
One can use different color markers on the chart as a visually easy way to see the patterns.
Dr. Revici performed a dramatic example of this anabolic/catabolic duality in cancer to a group of visiting physicians to his Instituto de Biologia Aplicada (Institute of Applied Biology), then located in Mexico, and later relocated in New York City.
Cancer specialists from UCLA, the Texas Cancer Society, and McCardle observed the demonstration. Revici prepared two glasses of water, each of which contained an acid solution. He asked the cancer patient to select one drink and asked a doctor in attendance to drink the other.
The patient was known to be on the alkaline side. Her pain went away. Meanwhile, the doctor noticed no difference in how he felt as a result of drinking the solution.
As a follow up demonstration, Revici prepared two more glasses, this time with an alkaline solution. The patient experienced a return of her pain, while the physician who had volunteered again experienced no change in how he felt.
The same demonstration was done with a cancer patient who was too acidic. The same scenarios unfolded, only in reverse.
While Revici used water soluble solutions for his demonstration, he used anabolic and catabolic lipids to treat his patients. The lipids had a more persistent effect, plus they could act as transporters of known anti-cancer compounds, such as selenium, at higher doses than normal.
Some other clinical signs and symptoms that can be indications of catabolic vs. anabolic imbalances are as follows:
Catabolic: Recessed eyes
Anabolic: Protruding eyes
Catabolic: Slow heart beat, when caused by pathology
Anabolic: Rapid heart beat, or arrhythmia
Catabolic: Low blood pressure
Anabolic: High blood pressure
Catabolic: Insomnia
Anabolic: Sleepiness, Drowsiness
Catabolic: Diarrhea
Anabolic: Constipation
Catabolic: Fluid retention
Anabolic: Frequent urination
Catabolic: Weight gain
Anabolic: Weight loss, due to illness
Foods and supplements for anabolic and catabolic patients
According to Revici's findings, attempting to further alkalize the catabolic patient will do little but speed up the patient's demise. According to his theory, nutrients such as Vitamin D, fish oil, and selenium methionine would be most helpful to the acidic/anabolic patient, but they could accelerate the disease in overly alkaline/catabolic patients.
Soy, coffee and boiled eggs should be avoided by acidic/anabolic patients, according to the Revici Method. But sardines, fried eggs and even mayonnaise can temporarily lessen the pain of those with an acid/anabolic imbalance. Emulsified cod liver oil is especially helpful for acidic/anabolic patients.
For the alkaline/catabolic patient vitamin E, zinc and boron would be better choices, according to Dr. Revici's principles. These patients also benefit from soy sauce, coffee and boiled eggs. Evening primrose oil and borage oil are the preferred oils for the catabolic/alkaline patient.
This little known duality might help to explain why so many supplements and programs often produce a 50% or a 60% success rate, but not a higher improvement level. It also helps to explain those confounding cases where the patient seemingly did all the ‘right' things, eating like a bird, drinking alkalized water, etc., yet they develop cancer at a relatively early age.
That kind of negative outcome is not so much an accident if the person is persistent in alkalizing themselves for a long period of time…it's almost a foregone conclusion.
As mentioned previously, much of Revici's work focused on what he called the “lipidic defense system,” and it is there that he attempted to modify either the anabolic or the catabolic imbalances. The omega-3 oils, especially fish oil, are the catabolic oils. The omega-6's are the anabolic oils. Because evening primrose oil and barrage oil are high in GLA, they would be the preferred anabolic oils.
He took oils and bound compounds to them such as selenium or sulfer. This had a great effect and enabled him to use dosages 1,000 times greater than normal limits.
Early in the 20th Century, Wasserman found selenium to have anti-cancer effects, but subsequent researchers determined that there were severe limits on how much selenium could be used. Revici found in 1954 that binding the selenium compound to the oil solved the toxicity challenge.
In addition, Revici categorized each and every element on the periodic chart as to whether it was anabolic or catabolic. With that knowledge, he would use the appropriate elemental compounds depending on whether the patient was too acidic or too alkaline.
Revici's success with alcohol and drug addiction
His work with addiction provides a prime example of how he used extraordinarily high doses to good effect. For instance, with drug addicts, he chemically bound selenium methionine to sesame oil. In some cases, he administered as much as .25 or .5 grams (500,000 mcg!) to the patient each day up to a week with no harmful effects. The patients did not experience any symptoms of withdrawal from their addictions, either.
Administering these extreme high doses should NOT be tried by combining oils with the micro-minerals in a mixture. Revici's medicines were chemically bound.
Revici's drug and alcohol treatment success was presented to a Congressional Hearing in April of 1971, although Revici was unable to attend himself due to illness. Congressman Charlie Rangel was intimately familiar with the program since many of Revici's addicted patients were from his district. Rangel visited the hospital himself accompanied by a medical administrator of the Harlem hospital drug rehabilitation program to see what was happening. At the hearing, Rangel said the following:
The results and what we witnessed [were] so unbelievable that the doctor from Municipal Hospital has now gone back on a daily basis in order to continue with this chance to see the miraculous results that have taken place…. I have personally gone back on several occasions to the clinic.
The cure and the corruption
Please forgive me for ending this article with more of a human interest slant than what might normally be seen in this newsletter, but I want to tell you give you a case history of a medical doctor. Dr. Bob Fishbein graduated from Harvard and Yale, but those credentials didn't protect him from a virulent highly undifferentiated brain tumor that carried a two-month ‘end of warranty.'
He was justifiably upset when I knocked on his door for the first time because security hadn't cleared my passage to his Manhattan apartment. That visit was in 1995. Now for the shocker: Dr. Fishbein's biopsy diagnosis, performed by none other than Dr. Harry Zimmerman, who is known as the father of neuropathology, was made in late 1962, some 33 years after Bob was given the bad news.
My unannounced visit was part of my research in writing a book about Dr. Emanuel Revici calledThe Doctor Who Cures Cancer. At first, Fishbein was gun shy about discussing Dr. Revici to a stranger because he'd seen firsthand how others had unfairly tried to destroy him. But by the time I went to interview him, I'd already come to the conclusion that Revici's work had saved many lives.
With that assurance, Fishbein told me how he had written letters asking to experts at Harvard and Yale for any help they could provide, including Professor George Wald, who was honored with the Nobel Prize the following year. The respondents to his letters were kind in their replies; unfortunately they had nothing to offer beyond their sympathy. Wald's poignant reply included these words, “Your letter makes me wish I knew more than I do.”
As Fishbein counted his final days while desperately grasping for a solution, he recalled a conversation he'd had six years earlier with Dr. Walter Leibling, who had been trained in multiple specialties, concerning an unusual doctor who treated his patients like no one else. During their long meeting, Leibling confided to Fishbein, “I know a doctor who melts tumors.”
Now that he was a cancer patient, Fishbein called Leibling seeking his advice once again. This time, Leibling told him, “Go to him [Revici]. Don't argue with him, and follow what he tells you like a religion. Don't tell anyone, and don't ask anybody else's opinion.”
Other than asking for second and third opinions, Fishbein took Leibling's advice to heart. As a result, Bob got cured, returned to practice medicine, and even returned to playing the violin professionally. (He had performed on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour as a teen and won.)
It would have been wonderful if there were a medical study of a hundred “highly undifferentiated brain tumor patients” I could point you towards to prove that the Revici Method is better than what is available today. But I did find out about a cured Grade IV glioblastoma multiforme patient and other brain tumor patients who were also cured, including one astrocytoma patient who had 15 “lumps” in her brain.
So in lieu of a hundred-person study, I must ask myself, how many doctors, using today's FDA-approved methods, have cured one undifferentiated brain tumor, one Grade IV glioblastoma, and one astrocytoma during their career? Are there many?
Is there one?
Maybe that is why, when Fishbein asked John Heller, M.D., the medical director of Sloan-Kettering, for an opinion about Revici, he told Bob, “I've known him for ten years. I don't know how he does it, but people walk in dead and walk out alive.”
In addition to recovering, Fishbein was an eyewitness to one of the greatest medical injustices of the 20th Century, something he could not have done had he not outlived his two month life expectancy. Dr. Bob gave some of his time at Revici's hospital while he gradually recovered from his illness. What he saw shocked him so much he wrote his own 24-page report on it.
Injustice can be a strong word. To understand why that description is apt, picture a medical review team conducting their monthly discussions at the International Press Club where the alcoholic beverage bill indicated each member of the team drank an average of several alcoholic drinks each. Surely this sounds too bizarre to be true, but that is what transpired when the so-called Clinical Appraisal Group held meetings supposedly to examine the work Revici was doing.
Nine names appeared on the article that was subsequently published. Seven of them never saw a patient. One of the apparent authors had demanded that his name not be associated with the review, but his name appeared as an author anyway. When asked about it, he said, “It was a disgrace.”
But the end result of that travesty is that you've probably never heard of Dr. Emanuel Revici before, the 101-year-old physician who practiced medicine more than 70 years. If you have heard of him, it probably included a reference to that worthless article. It is my hope you will hear about him and his work many times over now.
As Arnold Cronk, M.D., the senior medical scientist at Johnson & Johnson, said, “Revici is a fountain of ideas that could keep an entire graduating medical class busy for the rest of their lives.”
It is quite early in this adventure - only the second century. We'll see where it goes. Researching the work of Dr. Revici has taught me that there can be great power in oils, especially if we use the correct ones for our acid/alkaline condition.
Cancer has confounded many. I firmly believe that Dr. Revici has provided some of the missing links that explain why some patients get better while others have been refractory to holistic approaches.
Raquel Sanchez, M.D., had this to say about The Doctor Who Cures Cancer:
“I've read a lot of books, yet none of them were as clear and interesting as this book. It's the only one in the last 60 or 70 books that I couldn't put down. With other books, after a half-hour I'm bored with them. The Doctor Who Cures Cancer is written in a way so you understand everything perfectly as you read it - nobody writes like that!
