John R. Lee | David Zava | Virginia Hopkins
1 BOO!
This book will scare the bejesus out of ya, so make sure you're ready for the in-your-face reality this book offers. Are you ready to read about everything contributing to breast cancer from pesticides to plastic bottles? We're talking bug spray, plastic water bottles, beef, cow's milk + milk products, nail polish, polish remover, furniture, hair dryers, computers, and on and on. I was afraid to eat or touch anything for days! But the premise of this book isn't to scare but to educate you.
While this book focuses on progesterone and diet to ward off or control breast cancer from spreading, it also slams current drug treatments and drug companies, along with mammograms. The information in this book is exactly the opposite of what your doctor will probably tell you. But are you willing to bet your life that your doc really knows what he or she is talking about and not just repeating the widespread word of rich and powerful drug companies or manufacturers of mammography equiptment?
So if you're like me and have just recently found a lump in your breast, take some time to get used to the idea that you might have cancer. Then if you want to know the harsh reality about breast cancer, read this book. It might just save your life.
2 A book every loving husband must buy
If you love your wife and if you want her to be "All that she can be", then you must read this book. It will tell you what's going on with her and more importantly, if you can get her to read it, then you will have a healthy wife instead of one that slowly falls apart. Easy to understand and wonderful
3 A Must Read For Every Women, Young and Old
Everyone who has had breast cancer or who has a loved one with breast cancer should read this book. In fact, every woman should read this book because it tells the truth about breast cancer, the politics behind the treatment of breast cancer, and tells you how to prevent it. Prevention isn't profitable, so we aren't going to learn about it in the doctors office. This is an in-depth look at a subject that until now hasn't been addressed at the level of hormones and diet. As they point out, the folks who put on "Breast Cancer Awareness" month claim that breast cancer can't be prevented. It can, and you'll understand why and how after you read this book. It's time that women took control of their health by being aware and educated, and this book is a great step in that direction. It's well-written, easy to understand and very thorough on the subject of breast cancer.
4 Reader Beware
As the husband of a 40 year old woman with stage 1 breast cancer, I found this book to be disturbing and irresponsible in its presentation.
I was hoping for clarity and factual analysis as well as recomendations based on a balanced view of where the state of treatment is today relative to breast cancer.
What I found was a misuse of statistics and generalizations that can deeply wound the psyche of any women experiencing the trauma of breast cancer.
An unbiased view with balanced reporting was what I was expecting. I cannot keep this book in my home nor advise anyone to purchase it.
5 Great Information That EVERY Woman Should Know
This is a great review of cutting edge information that every woman should know. Knowledge is POWER and this book can empower you to begin to take control of your health and hopefully reduce your breast cancer risk. Dr. Edward Conley, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine Michigan State University
6 Every woman needs to read this book!
After watching a close friend die of breast cancer, I resolved to find out everything I could about this disease. After reading this book, I feel empowered to not only help prevent myself from getting this disease, but to prevent my daughter from getting it as well. Unfortunately, the medical establishment downplays the importance of prevention. Read this book - it could save your life!!!
7 M.D. does not mean "minor deity."
I feel this book is meant to empower women to take charge of their bodies. It is a scary subject, but knowledge is power. Take control. As the author said, M.D. does not mean "minor deity."
Prevention should be the most important thing in anyone's life and this book definitely gives you the tools that can help you prevent breast cancer. If you already have breast cancer, I encourage you to be open minded and get on the internet and seek out information on alternative cancer treatments. They are out there and there are plenty of success stories to go along with it.
Be an empowered woman and learn about your body. Don't wait.
8 Not worth my time
I recently purchased this book as well as a few others on breast cancer. As a 36 year old woman who was recently diagnosed (3 wks at this writing)with stage 2 breast cancer, I bought the book looking for supplemental info about the role of hormones. What I found on the pages I read truly upset me. Soon, I will be getting chemotherapy follwed by radiation therapy and, according to Lee, neither work. Talk about draining my hope, I literally sat sobbing on my sofa thinking I was doomed. I want to say that I couldn't even get through half of this book and decided that I would not be keeping this book in my home. This is not to say that treatment options are good as they are, they definitely need much more reasearch. Doctors also need to give patients more info on the role of diet as it relates to hormones. To an extent, this book provided Dr Lee with a forum to criticize doctors, treatments, statistics, etc. while offering no solid proven alternative treatments for women who are reading his book that currently have the disease!
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As a breast cancer patient, I would not recommend this book to any woman who currently has or ever had the disease. In my opinion, a much better book with a gentler approach is "Dr Susan Love's Breast Book". For someone looking to make dietary/lifestyle changes, I liked the most recent book by Jane A Plant which has many of the same dietary recommendations as the "Fit for Life" diet plan written by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond over 15 years ago.
9 Not worth my time
I recently purchased this book as well as a few others on breast cancer. As a 36 year old woman who was recently diagnosed (3 wks at this writing)with stage 2 breast cancer, I bought the book looking for supplemental info about the role of hormones. What I found on the pages I read truly upset me. Soon, I will be getting chemotherapy follwed by radiation therapy and, according to Lee, neither work. Talk about draining my hope, I literally sat sobbing on my sofa thinking I was doomed. I want to say that I couldn't even get through half of this book and decided that I would not be keeping this book in my home. This is not to say that treatment options are good as they are, they definitely need much more reasearch. Doctors also need to give patients more info on the role of diet as it relates to hormones. To an extent, this book provided Dr Lee with a forum to criticize doctors, treatments, statistics, etc. while offering no solid proven alternative treatments for women who are reading his book that currently have the disease!
.
As a breast cancer patient, I would not recommend this book to any woman who currently has or ever had the disease. In my opinion, a much better book with a gentler approach is "Dr Susan Love's Breast Book". For someone looking to make dietary/lifestyle changes, I liked the most recent book by Jane A Plant which has many of the same dietary recommendations as the "Fit for Life" diet plan written by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond over 15 years ago.
10 Informative, Positive and Hopeful
"Your risk of surviving malignant breast cancer is just about the same as it was 50 years ago, when the only treatment was mastectomy: about one in three. In other words, despite billions of dollars in research and hugely expensive and risky treatments, the conventional medical approach to breast cancer isn't working, and talk of prevention is virtually nonexistent." These are the opening words of the long-awaited book by John R. Lee, M.D., with David Zava, PhD and Virginia Hopkins, published by Warner Books. (Those of us who have heard Dr. Zava speak on the subject have been looking forward to his research and information in printed form.) The amount of research is first of all evident by the 63 pages of references in the back of the book. Many of these are covered in detail in the material.
Breast cancer is so prevalent in our modern society that it is a source of fear to most women. The statistics in chapter 1 from the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society include: a 40% increase from 1973 to 1998 and 15% of women who die of cancer are from breast cancer. The U.S. and Canada have the highest rates of breast cancer worldwide.
In Part 1, the traditional methods of treatment with radiation, chemotherapy and drugs such as Tamoxifen are related in large part to pharmaceutical funding of medical schools and research. Most of the risk factors for breast cancer, such as age, geography, early pregnancy, diet, alcohol, exercise, oral contraceptives and HRT are related in one way or another to estrogen dominance. What is the process of cancer development and how does a cancer cell differ from a normal cell? This information is covered in detail in Part 1.
Part 2 gives us details on the nature of estrogens, progesterone and androgens in the role of women's health. Dr. Ercole Cavalieri, research scientist at the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer, University of Nebraska Medical Center, coined the phrase "Angels of Life and Angels of Death" referring to estrogens. This is due to their beneficial and harmful natures. How estrogens are balanced with progesterone; the relationship to the cells, the liver, the immune system; and what makes estriol a superior, safer estrogen is thoroughly covered in this section.
What about other hormones: androstenedione, testosterone, DHT and DHEA? Read chapter 10: "The Nature of the Androgens." Especially important are the last two chapters in this section, researching the problems of HRT, ERT, Tamoxifen and Raloxifene. Read this shocking information: "In case you have any doubts as to the extent to which drug companies are controlling physicians, did you know that pharmacies sell prescribing information to drug companies? That's right. A drug company rep can purchase a list of all the doctors who are filling prescriptions at a particular pharmacy, and find out exactly what they're prescribing. How's that for an invasion of privacy?" (p.179)
Finally, we come to Part 3-how can we prevent and/or heal breast cancer? Guidelines for using natural progesterone are outlined for various circumstances, such as premenopausal, menopausal, with endometriosis, breast fibrocysts, PMS, menstrual migraine, hysterectomy or ovariectomy and women using estrogen. The use of other hormones is also covered. A chapter on saliva testing explains how and why it is valuable and gives helpful instructions.
What about soy, dietery fat and carbohydrates? Much nutritional information is given, including "Dos and Don't's of the Anti-Cancer Diet." (p.289) Also covered is the matter of the environment with the effect of xenohormones and other toxins. Is your liver in good shape? What support can you give your system to counteract the negative effect of all these poisons?
This is a brief summary of what to expect from this remarkable book, which is informative, positive and hopeful.
11 Refreshing and much needed
At last a straight forward amd well researched alternate veiw about breast cancer, its causes and its treatment. Dr. Lee and all have gone to great lengths to present meaningful and in depth perspectives on the issues that most matter in trying to understand how we can respond to breast cancer. They don't shy away from the difficult questions of how money and politics have shaped what we have been led to believe about how our own bodies function and the impact of various hormones on us. All we have to do is look in the news these days to see the mis-information that we have been fed elsewhere on HRT, cancer and such. Nor do they back away from distortions that have been feed to us about supposed sucesses on the war on cancer. Finally we have in one place a book that can point us in the direction of real hope and possible long term solutions, both individually and collectively.
I have been working with women and men with breast cancer for many years. At last I have a source of information that I can point people to that we can trust. Read this book. Then re-read it. It is a goldmine and a must if you or anyone you know has breast cancer or even concerns about it.
12 A Breath of Fresh Air!
I found this book to be a very timely breath of fresh air.
While reading the introduction I experienced a sense of clarity and relief that someone is telling the truth! Thank you!
As I delved more deeply into the book and began to recognize defininte symptoms of hormone imbalance in my body, I decided to take a clearer look at my lifestyle - diet, exercise, and long-held attitudes and beliefs about breast cancer, the medical establishment,
and the impact of the individual and collective physical, emotional, and spiritual environment on health.
In following some of the practical advice found within these pages and implementing some simple changes in diet and nutritional supplementation, as well as using a pure natural progesterone cream, I am experiencing higher quality of life.
This well researched and clearly written book made a powerful and positive impact on me. I highly recommend it for all women who want a consciousness raising experience (!) and encourage them to share it with their primary healthcare providers.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, Virginia, and David Zava, for your good work.
13 This Is An Essential Book That Finally Tells Women The Truth
Dr. John Lee Tells the Truth about Hormone Replacement
After all the hoopla recently about the dangers of HRT, this well-written book is a refreshing look at what's really going on in medicine with hormone treatments, and what's really causing breast cancer. Obviously written with great care for scientific accuracy, yet within the grasp of the "lay" person, Lee, Zava and Hopkins have carefully laid out the politics of breast cancer, the psychology of it, and the biochemistry. When you put this book down you'll probably have a better grasp of breast cancer than your typical doctor. This classic is a life-saver and should be on every woman's bookshelf.
14 Good main point, wretched presentation
Overall this book seems to have a valuable message: all women should have a saliva test for certain hormones, and when there is a lack of progesterone in particular, it should be taken by using a salve, thus preventing breast cancer or minimizing its spread. The worthlessness of synthetic mixed progestins compared with real progesterone was known for decades, and the recent expose on HRT using progestins should NOT discourage women from doing it effectively!
There are a number of lifestyle messages that seem very reasonable, such as avoiding mammograms, some better than average diet advice, and warnings on the toxicity of so many prescription drugs. Other claims such as environmental toxins being major causes of cancer are unproven.
But the overall problem with this book is that there was no quantitative data on the effects of any recommended intervention. There was no data on % of women who contracted breast cancer who were not taking progesterone compared with those who did. There was no data on how much more lifespan (or how much less all-cause mortality) one could obtain from progesterone treatment. There was no data on the % of women who would actually have the non-cancer benefits of using progesterone. There was no data on increased lifespan or quality of life when the diet interventions were followed.
****
On pp102-104 an example was given of a trial of estradiol (E2) and progesterone (Pg) creams applied to breasts 10-13 days before surgery to see how cell division rates were changed. The findings on p104 seem to relate to the un-numbered lower bar chart on p103. E2 was said in increase cell division rate by 230 %. Since the placebo rate was 8 on the ordinate, 230 % or 2.3 x 8 = 18. When 8 is increased by 18 the result is 26, which is not what the bar chart indicates. Pg was said to decrease the rate by 400%. Since 400 % of 8 is 32, 8 -32 = -24, which is absurd. A cell division rate cannot be decreased to less than zero. I guess they meant to say that the rate under placebo was decreased by 75%. This would fit the bar chart value of 2.
*****
On p110 the free-radical oxidation of catechol estrogens was described. Just plain catechol can be written as: 1,2-(HO)C6H4(OH) Free radicals are any type of atom with an unpaired electron, not electrons, and not just oxygen atoms. When a free radical reacts with catechol electrons are not removed alone, as this would lead to 2 or more positive charges, not a new radical. A phenolic hydrogen atom with 1 electron (a hydrogen radical) is what is actually removed to give this radical: 1,2-(HO)C6H4(O*) This does not go around looking for electrons. If it accepted just 1 electron, a phenoxide anion would be produced, and more electrons would not be accepted. If the phenoxide radical is to become a quinone, it must lose the other phenolic hydrogen atom: 1,2-(*O)C6H4(O*) This diradical would instantly rearrange to the quinone: 1,2-(O=)C6H4(=O) The damage may be done by the hydrogen radical. All these radicals are neutral in charge.
So far as quinones being always dangerous and needing inactivation, one need only look at the vital ubiquinone (vitamin or coenzyme Q10) to see the exception.
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15 Readers, gather for a class action case
It's important to hear alternative views about conventional treatments. The perspectives of Dr. Lee and his co-authors, unfortunately, are frighteningly biased. I sincerely hope this book does not lead people astray. If you are not well read scientifically about breast cancer, beware! The persona of the book, the grains of truth can delude the uninformed and those who don't think critically. You may not be able to see how these authors are axe grinding. Those with breast cancer who believe and follow all that these authors say should seek each other out and stay in touch. In five to ten years, you may want to consider collectively if this book has harmed you.
16 Quackery!
I've read many, many books on breast cancer (I have breast cancer). I was looking forward to an interesting, if controversial view from Dr. Lee. What I found is utter quackery, peppered with incorrect facts and damaging assumptions. While I will agree with Dr. Lee's general assertion that hormone balance is a good thing (for anyone, not just women with or trying to avoid breast cancer), some of the other falsehoods he spews are just too much. For instance, he purportedly quotes Christiane Northrup (I can't imagine that she affiliates herself with this idiot), but says that she has published a book entitled Our Bodies, Ourselves. Well, Dr. Northrup did not write Our Bodies, Ourselves, the women of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective wrote it. Dr. Northrup wrote Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom - which is a terrific book. Dr. Lee also talks about the mental/emotional factors that "cause" breast cancer - he erroneously states that the "typical" breast cancer patient is a woman who takes care of others to the exclusion of herself, is always giving, who may have unresolved hostility toward her mother . . . all unsubstantiated generalizations which describe many, many women in whole or in part - not just women with breast cancer. Were it so easy that taking care of oneself prevented breast cancer! The fact is, the biggest identifiable risk factor for contracting breast cancer is having breasts. This guy shouldn't be trumpeting b.s. like this and you shouldn't be reading it.
17 The Truth is Finally Told!
Finally a book on breast cancer that explains the REAL causes: (1)environmental exposure to toxic chemicals like pesticides and petroleum products that mimic our own natural hormones, estrogen specifically; (2) nutritional deficiencies from eating junk food that allow these toxic chemicals to inhibit normal detoxification mechanisims that take place in the Liver and Gastrointestinal tract; (3) taking prescription drugs which amount to synthetic derivations of our natural hormones, which inhibit normal cellular communication and can damage our DNA, resulting in formation of hormone-driven tumors; (4) chronic emotional stress which uses up our B-vitamins, essential fatty acids and other essential nutrients needed to maintain our immune and detoxification systems, as mentioned above.
Dr. Lee is a hero and a mentor. I highly recommend that ANYONE interested in the REAL causes of breast, ovarian, uterine and prostate cancers, AND how to prevent them, should read this book, and the two previous books by Dr. Lee, on Menopause and Premenopause, both available on this website!
More and more people are waking up....and beginning to understand the horrible mistake we made by trusting large corporations (drug companies)that place profits before people. Reading books by Dr. Lee will educate us and show us how with a little time reading, we can learn how to take care of ourselves while living in a world that is run by corporations trying their hardest to destroy us!
Read and share this book with those you love!
18 Life changing and life saving
Dr. Lee has been maligned for so long by the medical community, but the information presented in this book cannot be ignored or taken lightly. If every doctor in America would read this book and then have the courage to act, no doubt thousands of women would benefit. I have not been personally affected by breast cancer, and am hopeful that I will never be diagnosed with it. I am following Dr. Lee's recommendations and expect to live a long and healthy life!
