Alternative cancer treatment gets spotlight in Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar. Can it work?

Integrative cancer treatment fusing conventional medicine and holistic therapy from meditation to yoga is getting eyeballs. Experts weigh in

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A cancer sufferer in Hong Kong meditates as part of her alternative treatment path. Celebrities from Elle Macpherson to Olivia Newton-John have endorsed alternative cancer therapies. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 4:15am, 5 Apr 2025

Cancer patient Jessica Ainscough, an Australian wellness entrepreneur, made the wrenching choice to turn her back on prescribed oncology treatment – amputating her arm. She had epithelioid sarcoma, a rare form of the disease. The Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar is loosely based on her story.

Ainscough instead turned to Gerson therapy, an alternative cancer treatment that involves patients following a strict two-year organic juice regimen – drinking up to 13 glasses of fresh juice a day, taking dietary supplements and having daily coffee enemas.

The theory which underlies it, and which has no scientific backing, is that disease can be cured by removing toxins from the body, boosting the immune system and replacing excess salt in the body with potassium.

Ainscough – the inspiration for the character Milla Blake, played by Alycia Debnam-Carey in the Netflix series – claimed to have healed herself.

Alycia Debnam-Carey as Milla Blake in Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar. Photo: Netflix

She became well known for her alternative medicine blog, published three e-books and promoted alternative treatments with her “Wellness Warrior” events, inspiring countless cancer sufferers.

Yet Ainscough died when she was 29, less than six years after her diagnosis.