Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Dr. Robert Arnot is affectionately known to millions of American tv viewers as "Dr. Bob" because of his accessability given the medium. Do not use this familiarity as an excuse to belittle or undermine his scientific and/or medical integrity.This book is a concisely written, highly readable GEM. Arnot's recommendations are easy to implement, and will definitely result in improved nutritional status for women who currently "enjoy" our Standard American Diet (SAD). (Which is notoriously nutrient, phytochemical, and fiber poor, while being replete with saturated and damaged fats, as well as with nutrient depleting and insulin-stimulating simple sugars.)If you are truly interested in the maintenance of health and prevention of cancer (as well as heart disease), not merely with "early detection" or "improved drug treatment protocol" buy this book - read, study and learn.Honor your body and its femaleness. Send love to your breasts. Follow Arnot's well-researched, well-documented recommendations: Enjoy a high-fiber, low GI, phytochemical and soy rich diet that is rounded out with healthful fats.THRIVE, and LIVE to tell your daughters, sons and granddaughters about it all.

This book provides a thorough and easy-to-read explanation of current research into causes of breast cancer and how to reduce the risk of suffering from it. Since this book was published, additional research supporting Dr. Arnot's conclusions has been published. Even the John Muir Medical Center in California is using flaxseed oil as part of their breast-cancer program. Why are cranks who oppose this book so upset about women eating more fiber and vegetables to stay slender and healthy? Haven't they seen the many epidemiological studies that show a strong correlation beween diet and breast-cancer rates? By the time an annual mammogram shows a tumor, it is too late; the cancer already has a billion cells. As a chemical engineer, I appreciated the step-by-step explanations of chemical processes that cause cells to divide out of control. Thank you, Dr. Arnot.

Having just been diagnosed with a recurrence of non-metastatic breast cancer, I decided to seek out resources that might help me make the lifestyle changes I failed to make after my first episode, in order to prevent yet another recurrence. Since I'm in a doctoral program, I decided to take a course on alternative medicine and immediately began reading the texts, which led to this excellent resource.

Dr. Arnot's book is highly readable and very sincere. By that I mean it has heart, explained by Dr. Arnot's statement that he conducted the research for his wife who, upon her Mother's diagnosis with breast cancer, asked him what she could do to keep from getting it. The information in the book was his answer to her--information he decided to share with other women. His job as a medical reporter provides him with a language deftness and communication skills that enabled him to make technical information accessible to a lay audience. The latter is what makes the book easy and enjoyable reading rather than work.

Like many, I questioned how valid his information was--until I encountered the same information (as well as studies) in other credible sources. Dr. Anot is not just a good reporter, he's a good scientist.

I, too, have talked this book up to most of the women I know. Prior to reading it and the other resources I've encountered, despite having a decent lay knowledge of this disease, surprises abounded. Why don't they teach anything substantive about health and wellness in school when it's so crucial to leading a happy, productive, and healthy life? I expect many of you can guess the answer--it's not in the interests of the power elite, specifically the drug companies and American food industry. (Read one of the fascinating books on "McDonalidization" for insight on this mindset and it's political/economic influence.)

My only complaints about the book are that I would like to see a follow-up edition with the conclusion to many of the studies that were in progress when it was written. Many of them have concluded by the end of 2004 and I'd sure like to know the results. I'd also like to have seen the recipes that accompanied the meal plans, or even a separate volume containing recipes.

There is much that women who currently have, have had, or want to prevent this disease can do to hold it at bay and show it who's boss (especially since only 20% of cases are attributed primarily to genetic causes). Reading, no, absorbing the contents of this book, is one of them!

This is a great book. I wish we would have had this information a long time ago and perhaps there wouldn't be so many women w/breast cancer. It's informative. You'll notice that he's not out endorsing his own line of food supplements. It really is an important book. I've read 12 books on breast cancer, I'd put this in the top 3 of the books to buy.

october is breast cancer month in this country, we participate in walking marathons, fundraisers and remember those who have died and survived...this book allows women individually, to become proactive in lowering their risk factors, by suggesting lifestyle changes. Dr. Arnot makes crystal clear that changing one's diet is the main factor in lowering breast cancer risk. He emphasizes lowering meat, fat, sugar,and alcohol consumption...in fact alcohol should not be in any woman's diet. He discusses the links between chemical estrogen, high blood insulin levels and obesity as high risk factors. I am amazed about the different sources of chemical estrogens in our environment. His research chapters on vitamins, herbs, good and bad estrogen, is insightful. Chapters include foods which are breast "friendly". This helps the reader to become more informed of her choices....proactive?...or passive? This book helps the reader to participate in the fight against cancer from the "life style change" point of view.

Though Arnot's book is simply (perhaps simplistically) written, it nevertheless points out exciting areas of research. Most of the dietary recommendations are just good sense for a generally healthy diet. As for supplementation with high doses of certain substances, one should of course study such things further before making radical changes. As a TV doctor, wouldn't you expect he'd write in a TV manner, ie. sensationalistically? I found the book useful as a source of ideas for further research, not a Bible. As for the vaunted American Council on Science and Health's critique, mentioned in the majority of negative reviews here: Take a look at their site, and you'll easily see that they're a bunch of apologists for the most conservative and capitalistic viewpoints possible, lackeys for the food and chemical industries. Check out their pieces on irradiation, why soda pop isn't a bad food, the bad rap that DDT got, etc ad nauseum. If that's the kind of people who you put your faith in, you have nothing to say to those who put their faith in a TV doctor. Think for yourself, read critically, maintain a healthy skepticism, and research thoroughly before making radical changes. But don't throw the baby with the bathwater. This book sheds light on some intriguing possibilities - use it as a starting point.

My mother's two sisters have had masectomies, and I am sure that I am a good candidate for breast cancer. There are no other preventitive steps in existence at this time. As his book does not promise results, it is a healthy diet whether its results are proven or not. Although it is a preliminary study and won't be proven for possibly ten years or maybe more, what is the harm of eating correctly? It is not as if he is telling us to ingest drugs. These theories are believed to be true by many scientists and doctors in the field although they cannot be proven until more research is done. I would rather eat these foods, and possibly keep my breasts before I have to go through chemotherapy or die. Why not try? I have spoken to a woman who had nine months to live and refused chemo. She went on a diet quite the same as Dr. Arnot's. This was in 1970. She is 76 years old today. I never assume that people know everything and I imagine that foods that come from natural sources are better for you than anything we can manufacture.

Dr. Arnot has taken the terrifying subject of breast cancer and produced a book which is full of hope and specific information for how this dreaded disease may be prevented or reversed. The book begins with a highly informative and readable explanation of what is known to date about breast cancer and its causes.

I like this book, and recommend it highly, for several reasons:

1) Dr. Arnot has made the physiological processes surrounding breast cancer accessible to the reader by using analogies and simple, non-technical (as much as possible) language.

2) The message of hope is the underlying principle of the book. The reader learns that breast cancer develops as a result of a large number of factors working together, and that there are many steps along the way before an actual cancer develops.

3) The book gives specific instructions for dietary and other lifestyle changes which can interrupt the process at various steps along the way. In other words, there is not just one tiny window of opportunity, but many, many things we can do to stack the odds in our favor that we won't get the disease, or to decrease it if we already have it.

4) The dietary and lifestyle changes recommended by Dr. Arnot are simple and make good sense. Most have other benefits, in addition to preventing breast cancer. For example, he recommends lowering the intake of fats, and eliminating certain types of fats. He also recommends a regular exercise program. It is well-known that reducing dietary fat intake, and following an exercise regimen also reduces the odds of developing cardiovascular disease.

Read this book as soon as possible. Get an extra copy for your mom, your sister, your daughter, your best friend.

I have not read Arnot's book. However, to those reviewers who cite the attacks made against the book by the American Council for Science and Health, you need to know the shaky credentials and corporate sponsorship of that particular organization. Go to their website: there you will find articles saying that pesticide in foods poses absolutely no health risks, and articles saying that vending machines in schools should be allowed to continue selling soda and a whole range of snack foods in the interests of a free market system. This Council appears to be nothing more than a highly-financed mouthpiece for various corporate interests. I have been highly skeptical of any of their "scientific" claims for a while now. Finding out that they do not support Arno's book actually makes me more interested in checking it out myself, so I have ordered a copy.

This is a well written book that includes scientific information in a conversational style that is quite easy to read. The book offers options for women to make their own decisions. Being in the healthcare field myself, I have not been surprized to find that there have been criticizms of Dr. Arnot's work. What has been disappointing has been the patronizing tone of those criticizms. Primarily, the objections have been that reading the book "might confuse a woman's healthcare priorities", or give someone false hope.

I believe that anyone who actually reads Dr. Arnot's book will realize that he is saying that women have a right to know about the latest findings of research and make their own decisions about how to proceed. He discusses risks and what his recommendations would be to his own wife and daughter. Far from being a wild presciption for a new age fad diet, it is a thoughtfull look at improving one's diet and incorporating promising research.

After all, many physicians are on the tamaxofen band-wagon, yet, in the same breath are unwilling to look at natural methods that might yield similar results with fewer side effects and less risk.

I believe that women should be just as wary of a doctor patting her on the head and telling her that she's not smart enough to set her own priorities, as someone selling a "cure all". This book does neither. It's important reading, and I hope will encourage people to learn more about how their bodies work, the role nutrition plays in health, and the politics as well as the science of research.