Is “Apple Cider Vinegar”'s Hirsch Institute Real? All About the Holistic Cancer Treatment It's Based On — and Whether or Not It Works

Apple Cider Vinegar blends fact and fiction in its portrayal of Belle Gibson’s alternative medicine scam — including the Hirsch Institute regimen she and other wellness influencers embraced.

The Netflix miniseries tells the "true-ish" story of an Australian wellness blogger who lied about having and curing her terminal brain cancer through healthy eating and natural remedies. While some details were fictionalized and modified, it's based on the real-life story of Gibson (played by Kaitlyn Dever), who built a massive following on social media documenting her (fake) journey with cancer and promoting her wellness app, The Whole Pantry.

Eventually, her deception caught up to her after reporters found that she had been lying about donating profits from her businesses to several charities. Shortly after, the rest of her lies began unraveling — including the fact that she never had cancer to begin with.

Related: Is Apple Cider Vinegar a True Story? Inside Belle Gibson’s Real-Life Cancer-Curing Scam That Rocked the Wellness Industry

In the series, Gibson and fellow wellness influencer, Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey) — who documents her (real) journey of trying to treat her cancer on a popular blog — reject conventional treatment in favor of natural cancer "cures" promoted by the Hirsch Institute. These alternative treatments include dietary changes and supplements consumed via juices, fresh fruits, vegetables, coffee enemas and more.

While appearing on a talk show in Apple Cider Vinegar, Blake explained that Hirsch therapy's treatment "starves the cancer cells of anything they need to grow and then nourishes them with anything they need to die ... there's a lot of science behind it."

So, is the Hirsch Institute real? Here's everything to know about the real-life regimen that inspired the Hirsch Institute in Apple Cider Vinegar.

Is the Hirsch Institute in Apple Cider Vinegar real?

In Apple Cider Vinegar, Blake — otherwise known as "The Wellness Warrior" — seeks an alternative to amputation and discovers the Hirsch Institute: a "super strict, labor-intensive" wellness program in Mexico, as she describes in the series.

During her talk show appearance, Blake explains that those going through Hirsch therapy have to drink 13 fresh organic juices and five coffee enemas a day for two years. Despite its detailed regimen, the Hirsch Institute is one of the fictionalized aspects of the series — though, it does have some parallels to real life.

Blake’s character is believed to be loosely based on Australian wellness influencer Jessica Ainscough, who was diagnosed with a rare cancer at a young age and died in February 2015. While Ainscough also turned to alternative treatments after chemotherapy failed and doctors recommended amputation, she specifically followed an unproven treatment known as Gerson therapy, per The Guardian.

“I was diagnosed with a rare, ‘incurable’ cancer at 22. At 26, I am healing myself naturally,” Ainscough wrote on her blog years ago, per Women’s Weekly. “I am ecstatic to report that it has worked for me.”

What is Gerson therapy — and what does it consist of?

Gerson therapy is an unproven treatment method used by some cancer patients that follows a three-part regimen: diet, supplementation and detoxification.

According to the National Cancer Institute, those undergoing Gerson therapy follow a diet consisting of fruits, vegetables and whole grains as a way of giving the body "vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and other nutrients."

It also includes adding certain substances to the diet to help correct cell metabolism, as well as using treatments like enemas to remove toxic substances from the body, per the National Cancer Institute.

Is Gerson therapy an effective cancer treatment?

Gerson therapy has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for cancer or any other disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, because no "prospective, controlled study in cancer patients" has been reported in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, there isn't enough evidence to support its use as a cancer treatment.

"The data that are available are not sufficient to warrant claims that the Gerson therapy is effective as an adjuvant to other cancer therapies or as a cure," the National Cancer Institute's website reads. "At this time, the use of the Gerson therapy in the treatment of cancer patients cannot be recommended outside the context of well-designed clinical trials."

Read the original article on People