HAARLEM, NETHERLANDS. Dr. R. Dekkers a Dutch medical doctor and chemical engineer describes a novel method of removing gallstones. His wife apparently tried it with good results. She drank one liter of apple juice daily for six days and on the 7th day she drank a cup of olive oil just before going to bed. She lay on the left side during the night and the next morning found soft gallstones in the stool. The stones were recognized at the university hospital as fatty gallstones. Dr. Dekkers suggests that the stones can be more easily collected if an oral dose of magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) is taken at noon on the 7th day and the evening meal is skipped.
Dekkers, R. Apple juice and the chemical-contact softening of gallstones. The Lancet, Vol. 354, December 18/25, 1999, p. 2171 (correspondence)