Talk:Johanna Budwig

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I'm not crazy about the editing job someone did to this page. I had links to the diet. I also don't think you need links to "diet" and "German" but I quibble.

Not sure why we have to point out that oncologists don't believe in it and why they edited out my entries regarding people who have had their leukemia and cancers CURED from this diet, amazing even their doctors.

The leukemia cure was my wife.

I presume that you're referring to these edits. The largest chunk of text was removed because it was apparently copied directly from an external site. Just providing a link to the site from which it was copied doesn't allow Wikipedia to reproduce a substantial portion of another author's work, I'm afraid. The link to the full copy of the information is preserved in the External links section of the article, as is usual Wikipedia practice.

The degree of wikilinking is somewhat subjective, though it seems to be traditional to link the first reference to a country.

It is normal for encyclopedia articles—those in Wikipedia included—to describe the opinions of relevant experts. The vast majority of oncologists don't believe dietary changes (Budwig's or any others) can cure cancer, and this is worth noting.

In general, it's not appropriate to include personal opinion or anecdotes, which is why those passages were removed or edited. --TenOfAllTrades (talk/contrib) 21:15, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

You know what, the entire world of "medicine" is being written by those who have a vested interest in the status quo. Of course oncologists don't like the Budwig Diet because they get all their money from the drug companies and by prescribing chemotherapy.

I just think your edits were overly negative.

[edit] Nobel Peace Prize

Budwig's supporters have on at least six occasions nominated her for a Nobel Peace Prize (she has never been considered for a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, however.)

• Being nominated for the Peace Prize is an honor, but it is not official and not necessarily prestigious. Any national legislator or about a third of the university professors in the world can make a nomination, and there have been as many as 160 some years. Rumored nominees have included a Brazilian psychic (nominated twice) and an unscrupulous businessmen from Ohio. Nominators are requested to keep their nominations secret, so it's only those wishing publicity who make announcements. In most instances the reports of prize nominations seem to just be unattributed rumors. Altogether, I see no reason to keep it. No offense to the subject, this is a general Nobel Peace Prize "nominees" issue. -Willmcw July 7, 2005 07:58 (UTC)

• I'm inclined to agree, for the reasons stated. (Chief among them are the verifiability issues, since the Nobel committee keeps the official list of nominations secret for fifty years.) TenOfAllTrades(talk) 7 July 2005 12:09 (UTC)

In fact, I'm almost inclined to leave this intact, just as an indicator of how totally meaningless a nomination is. But we can keep it here on the talk page. Cheers, -Willmcw 18:38, July 20, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Substantial trimming

Okay, I've just pulled a bunch of the unsourced assertions from the article ([1]), and tagged it as {unreferenced}. When claims, assertions, or even anecdotes are inserted that are not statements of 'common knowledge' please try to remember to include sources. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 22:50, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

It's getting better, but I'm removing some more stuff. The following statement about cell biology is referenced to a very fringe book; statements about cell biology need to be backed up by peer-reviewed biochemistry.

Flaxseed oil, as one of the highest sources of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, combined with cottage cheese, one of the highest sources of sulphur-based proteins, bind together, resulting in optimum transport of the fatty acids to cancer cells^[1].

I'm also taking out the big section about the possible benefits of flaxseed oil. The studies don't address Budwig's work directly; the information belongs in our article on flaxseed oil. As well, I do worry about WP:WEIGHT here—all five cited papers supporting the benefits of flaxseed come from one lab (Lilian U. Thompson's).

Recent testing of flaxseed (the highest source of mammalian lignans) on rats led to reduction and regression of tumours. This led to a formal randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study involving 32 postmenopausal patients confirming that 25g flaxseed daily intake significantly reduced cell proliferation, increased apoptosis and reduced c-erbB2 expression of human breast cancer cells.^[2] The preliminary research into flaxseed indicates that it can significantly change breast cancer growth.^[3][4][5][6]

Keep up the good work. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:14, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

TenOfAllTrades, that's a disingenous approach - removing all cited and uncited information that you disagree with, for differents reasons. Yes, it should be cited. The cited information on the efficacy of flaxseed oil is directly related to the Budwig Diet. The problem for alterative approachs is that, when they are verified through conventional sources, they are not longer considered "alternative." Nonetheless, this is the Budwig Diet being applied. I'm not convinced either way on most alternative approaches, but I definitely want to see cited relevant information if it can be included - core to what Wikipedia is about.Aristillus(talk) 17:28, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Who said I disagree with the information about flaxseed oil? I note only that the information belongs in a different article, not here. Flaxseed oil is only one component of the Budwig diet; as far as I know none of the studies cited address the efficacy of Budwig's protocol in its entirety, nor do they support the assertion that the diet is curative.

I see, incidentally, that you've also restored uncited claims about Nobel Prize nominations (inherently unverifiable, as nominations are sealed for decades) and for some reason chosen to duplicate a couple of external links. (Diff)

Unless you're prepared to provide sources for the uncited material, please stop blanket reverting my edits. Unless you're prepared to add sources to indicate that the possible benefits identified flaxseed oil studies apply specifically to Budwig diet patients, please stop reinserting material that properly belongs in a different article where it might be on point. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 03:15, 5 May 2008 (UTC)