The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet: The Powerful Foods, Supplements, and Drugs That Can Save Your Life. - book reviews

By Bob Arnot, M.D.; Little, Brown and Company, 1998; hardcover; $23.50.

When NBC chief medical correspondent Bob Arnot's mother-in-law came down with breast cancer, he and his wife, Courtney, were with her through diagnosis, chemotherapy, mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, and her fear of recurrence. Watching the ravages of the illness and realizing that Courtney was genetically predisposed to develop the same disease as her mother, they both began to ask, "How do you prevent breast cancer?" The answer to that question is contained in this excellent, well-researched book. It is Arnot's gift to his wife and to the millions of us who, having read the alarming headlines and statistics, feel like sitting ducks.

Arnot's message is that we have more control than we realize. He cites study after study that supports his view that diet causes or contributes significantly to the onset of breast cancer. Much of the information in this book is not new; it's gleaned from news reports, magazines, and books by other authors. But Arnot has done a remarkable job of explaining the complex progression of breast cancer, and of showing us how to counter this disease by altering our diets. Among his many recommendations are to incorporate flax oil and soy-foods into our diets, add the right quantities of insoluble fiber (so that the estrogen our bodies produce isn't absorbed through the intestine), and to eat several key "cancer protective" cruciferous vegetables, all on a daily basis.

Arnot doesn't just tell readers to "do this." He explains how each recommended food affects the formation of cancerous tumors, and he carefully notes the amounts that have been shown to provide protective benefits. For example, I didn't know that making a soy shake with just one ounce of soy powder gives me almost four times the dose of genistein (the active ingredient in soy that blocks the estrogen receptor) that a half cup of tofu does. In fact, my best guesses about what to eat or the quantities to eat often turned out to be wrong.

The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet contains meal plans and guidelines for reconciling sometimes contradictory dietary advice (he recommends a low-fat, low-calorie diet but at the same time urges women to ingest olive oil, flaxseed oil, and fish oils). Also helpful is the way he's tailored menus to women in various stages of life, since dietary requirements differ considerably depending on such factors as whether you're pre-menopausal (and thus producing estrogen) or post-menopausal (and no longer producing estrogen) or whether you're recovering from cancer and seeking to stay in remission or battling the full-fledged disease.

The one puzzling thing about this book is the inclusion of "drugs" in the subtitle. It is not about "drugs that can save your life." On the contrary, the book is about alternatives to drugs.

Whatever its title, this isn't a book you'll read once. You'll highlight it, make marginal notes, reread it, dogear it, photocopy parts of it and post them on the fridge, and buy a new copy when the old one falls apart. All this can be summed up in three words: "Buy this book."

COPYRIGHT 1998 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group