Related Terms

• Autohemotherapy, bio-oxidative therapy, germanium sesquioxide, glyoxylide, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) therapy, hyperoxygenation, Koch, Koch's glyoxylide, malonide, oxidative therapy, oxidology, oxymedicine, ozone (O3) therapy, parabenzoquinone.

Background

• William F. Koch, MD, PhD, a graduate of the University of Michigan developed a substance known as "synthetic anti-toxin," which later became known as "glyoxylide." The treatment was marketed under the label of the "Christian Medical Research League." Koch proposed that a single toxin caused cancer, and that the disease could be prevented or reversed by removing that toxin. To achieve this goal, Koch claimed he had developed glyoxylide, an oxygen compound that could be injected into patients' muscles. Koch and his followers asserted that glyoxylide forced cancer cells to absorb oxygen, which helped to clear the body of the cancer-causing toxin.

• Koch theorized that cancer formed because of a metabolic defect brought on by a toxin or injury, making it incapable to burn off such toxins. His anti-toxin, glyoxylide, made use of an oxidizing catalyst to burn off toxins that might otherwise become cancerous.

• The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) denounced Koch as a quack after he refused to sell his protocol to the American Medical Association (AMA). At the instigation of the AMA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put him on trial in 1942 and 1946. They did not succeed in getting a conviction, but neither could Koch secure an acquittal. When the FDA finally dismissed the indictment in 1948, Koch moved to Brazil. He never revealed his manufacturing process. Koch's one-shot cancer therapy died with him.

• Koch researched, invented and patented a system of treatments with reagents that used chemicals to restore the body's oxidation mechanism, thus allowing the body to heal itself back to its original vitality, thereby re-equipping the body with its innate ability to restore and maintain health, not only in cancers but also in a host of its 'allied diseases.'

• Today researchers have shown the value of many oxygen-yielding protocols (such as hydrogen peroxide and ozone therapy) for treating various disease processes.

Technique

• The Koch method is a systematic course of dieting and enemas combined with administration of Koch Synthetic Antitoxins (malonide, glyoxylide, and parabenzoquinone). The treatment injections were made up of one part glyoxylide to one trillion parts water. Dr. Koch preferred to deliver glyoxylide only once or twice in the form of intramuscular injections (2cc), in a highly diluted (possible homeopathic) form.

• The antitoxin to cancer was a mixture of an oxidizing catalyst he called glyoxylide (O=C=C=O) and a chemical called l:4 parabenzoquinone. A one-million-fold dilution of this solution was given to patients by injection every six months to stimulate all the body's oxidation reactions to cure the cancer and a host of other diseases. Koch never revealed the process for the manufacture of glyoxylide, nor did he show it existed. Analysis showed it to be distilled water of extraordinary purity.

Theory/Evidence

• Koch theorized in 1919 that cancer was caused by a metabolic defect brought on by a single toxin produced by an injury or irritation. He proposed that toxins produced during metabolism and by bacteria were normally burned off during oxidation of carbohydrates. If the toxins persisted, they damaged the toxin-burning system and converted a normally present "harmless germ" into a virulent cancer-causing one.

• Koch's research led to the development of several synthetic antitoxins: glyoxylide, malonide and parabenzoquinone. These catalysts became the stimulant necessary to achieve the oxidative separation of the host cell/pathogen integration, when the pathogen was a virus, a carcinogen, a bacterial toxin or an incompletely burned tissue metabolite. He successfully defined the position of the activated amine group, the free radical, the double bond and the carbonyl group in pathogenesis and in its correction.

• Antitoxins stimulated the destruction of the toxins responsible for the growth of cancer tissue. Koch reasoned that cells become cancerous because the blood's oxygen levels become depleted. If sufficient oxygen were continually delivered to the body's tissues, cancer pathology would be virtually impossible.

• Oxygen therapy uses one or more chemicals that are supposed to release oxygen after they are put into the body. The extra oxygen is believed to increase the body's ability to destroy disease-causing cells. Two of the most common compounds used in oxygen therapy are ozone (a chemically active form of oxygen) and hydrogen peroxide. Oxygen therapy, as described here, is different from hyperbaric oxygen, which involves the use of pressurized oxygen. There is no evidence that oxygen therapy is effective in treating cancer. It may even be dangerous. There have been reports of patient deaths from this method.

• Ozone gas may be mixed with air or liquids and introduced into the body. It may be given under pressure into the rectum, vagina, or other body opening, or injected into a muscle or under the skin. In an approach called autohemotherapy, some practitioners use a special device to force ozone into a pint of blood that has been drawn from the patient. The blood is then returned to the patient's body.

• There is no evidence that increasing oxygen levels in the body will harm or kill cancer cells. One researcher from the Dominican Republic claimed that he used ozone gas to cure 13 people with cancer. A follow-up investigation found that two of the patients had died of cancer, three could not be found, two refused to be interviewed, three were alive but still had cancer, and in three cases it was not clear that the patients had cancer to begin with.

• Some researchers have studied hydrogen peroxide as an addition to radiation therapy. Although some patients appeared to benefit, many did not. Some lab tests have looked at using hydrogen peroxide along with certain chemotherapy drugs against cancer cells, but it is still too early to tell if this will be of any benefit. Attempts to treat patients with hydrogen peroxide injections directly into solid tumors or into the blood system have generally been ineffective. The medical literature contains several accounts of patient deaths attributed directly to oxygen therapy.

Safety

• A qualified healthcare provider should be consulted before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.

• Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should not use this method, as its possible effects on a fetus are unknown.

• Relying on this type of treatment alone, and avoiding conventional medical care, may have serious health consequences.

• Use of hydrogen peroxide can be harmful if swallowed. Drinking the concentrated solutions sold in some health food stores (35%, or "food grade" hydrogen peroxide) may cause vomiting, severe burns of the throat and stomach, and even death. Direct skin contact or breathing the vapors of hydrogen peroxide can also be harmful.

• Hydrogen peroxide injections can have dangerous side effects. High blood levels of hydrogen peroxide can create oxygen bubbles that block blood flow and cause gangrene and death. Destruction of blood cells has also been reported after intravenous injection of hydrogen peroxide.

Author Information

• This information has been edited and peer-reviewed by contributors to the Natural Standard Research Collaboration (www.naturalstandard.com).

Bibliography

Natural Standard developed the above evidence-based information based on a thorough systematic review of the available scientific articles. For comprehensive information about alternative and complementary therapies on the professional level, go to www.naturalstandard.com. Selected references are listed below.

1. American Cancer Society. Questionable methods of cancer management: hydrogen peroxide and other 'hyperoxygenation' therapies. CA Cancer J Clin. 1993;43:47-56.

2. Leon OS, Menendez S, Merino N, et al. Ozone oxidative preconditioning: a protection against cellular damage by free radicals. Mediators Inflamm. 1998;7:289-294.

3. Loughlin KR, Manson K, Cragnale D, et al. The use of hydrogen peroxide to enhance the efficacy of doxorubicin hydrochloride in a murine bladder tumor cell line. J Urol. 2001 Apr;165(4):1300-1304.