'Apple Cider Vinegar' based the Hirsch Institute on Gerson Therapy, a debunked cancer treatment by the 20th century doctor Max Gerson.
"Apple Cider Vinegar" features a controversial wellness camp called the Hirsch Institute.
The pseudoscientific cancer treatments in the Netflix show include juices and coffee enemas.
These treatments appear to be based on what is known as Gerson Therapy.
Viewers of "Apple Cider Vinegar" — which tells the story of Belle Gibson (Kaitlyn Dever), an Australian influencer who faked having cancer — may be wondering if the Hirsch Institute is real.
The institute is fictionalized for the show but appears to be based on a pseudoscientific treatment called Gerson Therapy.
The institute features in the show when wellness influencer and journalist Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is diagnosed with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma and flies to Mexico to attend its wellness camp. She starts a treatment plan that involves drinking different juices every hour and using coffee enemas.
Ultimately, Blake realizes that it doesn't work after her cancer spreads across her body. She reverts back to taking the treatment advised by her doctors, but it's too late and she dies toward the end of the series.
Gerson Therapy is named after its creator Max Gerson, a German doctor who developed it during the 1920s and 1930s. It was first tried as a treatment for tuberculosis and migraines, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Gerson claimed that eating an organic diet of fruit and vegetables, high in potassium and low sodium, would help rid the body of toxins and return the metabolism to "normal."
The diet also included drinking 13 glasses of juice a day alongside coffee enemas to "clean" the liver and colon. People following Gerson Therapy are also required to take supplements, including vitamin B12, and potassium.
The NCI says that having too many coffee enemas can change a person's normal blood chemistry, which can stop muscles, the heart, and other organs from working.
In 1947 and 1959, the NCI examined 60 of Gerson's patients and the results "did not prove the regimen had benefit."
Cancer Research UK said that researchers in a 2014 study found that "none of the previous reports on Gerson therapy proved that it was effective." It states that an organic diet has potential benefits, but reputable scientific cancer organizations do not support it as a treatment method.
The US Food and Drug Administration has not approved Gerson therapy for cancer patients. However, some attend Gerson's Health Institute in Tijuana, Mexico, to undergo treatment — in the same way that Blake travels to the Hirsch Institute in "Apple Cider Vinegar."
According to Gerson's Health Institute, these trips cost $6,000 a week and include all of the Gerson therapy meals, juices, and enemas as well as access to an on-site medical team, patient support groups, and a private room.
Gerson's Health Institute did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
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