By Diana Heil
Big ones. Small ones. Droopy ones. Damaged ones. As a plastic surgeon in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dr. Christine Horner beheld every kind of breast.
Yet she knew little about how to keep them healthy.
"All you learn in medical school is the suppression of symptoms with pharmaceuticals or surgery," Horner said in a telephone interview this week. "There was absolutely nothing taught on what women can do to lower their risk."
Conventional medicine pushes self-exams and mammogram screenings, but Horner insists, "That's not prevention."
Finally, after reconstructing the breasts of numerous cancer patients and watching her mother die of the disease in 1994, Horner searched thousands of clinical studies for answers. She was surprised by what she found.
"The ability to cut risk in half is extraordinarily simple," Horner said. "It's all natural things: diet, exercise, herbs and supplements."
She packed the best of them in her book, Waking the Warrior Goddess: Dr. Christine Horner's Program to Protect Against & Fight Breast Cancer, published in May 2005 by Basic Health Publications Inc.
For months, she hasn't spent much time at her new Taos, N.M., residence as the demands of her book tour and interviews with national media outlets have kept her on the road. But she recently gave a talk in Santa Fe, N.M., over a vegetarian meal. She is a fan of Ayurveda, a Hindu way of life that Horner calls "the oldest, most complete system of prevention-oriented holistic health."
Horner blames the indulgent American lifestyle for the 21 percent rise in breast cancer between 1999 and 2003. "Women in Asia on average have six times lower risk of breast cancer, but when they move to the United States, they rapidly become on par with American women," Horner said. "How we eat and live in the United States is a prescription for disaster."
However, the American Cancer Society attributes the spike in part to the increased use of mammography, a screening that detects breast cancer before women and their doctors can feel lumps in physical exams.
Lung and breast cancer are the most common cancer deaths in American women. More than 40,000 women are likely to die of breast cancer this year alone, according to estimates from the American Cancer Society.
Horner has stopped performing surgeries and devoted her energies to breast health activism. "My mission and passion is to end the breast cancer epidemic in my lifetime," the 47-year-old woman said.
Dr. Janet Greene, a Santa Fe, N.M. internist and certified homeopath, met Horner at national conferences over the years. She applauds Horner's message. Both doctors are wary of messing with women's hormones and open to alternative medicine.
"She really did a great service for a lot of people," Greene said.
Greene, who helped edit "Waking the Warrior," battled cancer herself.
In her office, Greene sells the book to patients as well as Horner's product, Protective Breast Formula, which contains seven natural ingredients to promote breast health. It costs $55 for 60 tablets. "I can't even keep it in my office," Greene said of its popularity.
Dr. Horner's Guide to Breast-Cancer Prevention
Based on her review of thousands of clinical studies, Dr. Christine Horner offers tips to lower your risk of breast cancer, or if you have breast cancer, to help you to fight it and live a longer, healthier life.
- Eat a plant-based diet high in organically grown fruits, grains and vegetables (especially broccoli) and whole grains.
- Avoid trans fats and saturated animal fats. Instead, eat health-promoting fats, like omega-3 fatty acids found in flax oil, every day.
- Make green tea, maitake mushrooms, garlic, turmeric and wakame seaweed part of your regular diet or take them as supplements.
- Take a good daily multivitamin.
- Take protective supplements such as calcium D-glucarate, grape seed extract, selenium and CoQ10.
- Avoid red meat, sugar, alcohol and smoking.
- Keep your weight ideal.
- Exercise regularly.
- Go to bed by 10 p.m. and get up by 6 a.m., and make sure your bedroom is as dark as possible.
- Use nontoxic products.
- Practice effective stress-reducing techniques daily, such as meditation and yoga.
On the Web:
Source: The Santa Fe New Mexican. Powered by Yellowbrix.
