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Suzannah Olivier has
produced a nutritional tour de force. Her book will be assured of a prominent
place among my most stalwart bibles of nutritional references. There are several reasons
for this high praise:
1 The author is herself a breast cancer survivor of some
10 years, and she therefore brings to this book all the necessary technical
understanding and empathy from having undergone the trauma of a diagnosis
of breast cancer;
2 Suzannah Olivier is a qualified nutritionist and demonstrates
in this book her mastery of the subject, not only with regard to
breast cancer, but in relation to so many other health conditions, including heart
disease, diabetes, hormonal imbalances, thyroid and digestive imbalances;
3 This massive book (some 430 pages) covers in ample
detail, all the major subjects of diet and nutrition, including fats,
fibre, sugar, vitamins, minerals, phytoestrogens, herbs such as astragalus
and echinacea, “superfoods” such as linseeds, garlic, alfalfa,
seaweed, soy foods, and other supplements including probiotics, milk thistle,
quercitin, soy isoflavones, lycopene, chlorella and many others;
4 The book is professionally referenced throughout,
providing the reader access to hundreds of published journal articles
and books on a wide range of topics. There are appendices with a highly
useful list of Resources, a Medical Glossary, defining many medical and
scientific terms, and some 45 pages of Bibliography with those highly
precious notes and scientific references to the literature. In addition
to the General Index, there is also a useful Recipe Index to the many
delicious culinary recipes within the book.
In addition to covering, in detail, the many facets of each of
the nutritional categories, Suzannah Olivier also provides the reader with a highly
charged description of what happens following a diagnosis of breast cancer, true stories
of other women’s (including her own) experiences, as well as highly informative
discussions of the many investigative diagnosis and treatment options, including
mammography, surgery, radiotherapy, hormone treatment and chemotherapy.
What makes this book outstanding both to the breast cancer
patient, as well as to the health professional, is the thorough treatment
of many issues vital to everyone’s general health, including environmental
issues including pesticides and antibiotics, hormones, particularly phytoestrogens
and especially
natural progesterone.
Other invaluable sections include chapters about building strong
immunity, harmonising hormones, optimising digestion, detoxification and reducing and
handling stress.
The author has managed the rare achievement of integrating the
technical and the practical, especially when it applies to making changes to our diet and
lifestyle. In discussing the various
vitamins, for example, she includes a list of food sources, as well as a section regarding
their uses for breast cancer. There is an entire chapter of daily menu suggestions,
including choices for the non-vegetarian, vegetarian and gluten-free, as well as a daily
plan of supplements.
In general, I found her information and advice to be well-rounded
and non-judgmental; she sometimes gives her personal preferences, but also mentions
dissent among other health professionals. My one criticism concerns the author’s
perpetuation of the misinformation regarding the concern that vitamin C might interfere
with the excretion of methotrexate during chemotherapy. This hypothetical concern, put
forward in a published paper by Sketris and Farmer in 1984, was tested and refuted in this
same paper. The authors did the experiment to compare vitamin C’s effect upon
methotrexate in a cancer patient, and found that vitamin C did not have any effect at all.
It is infuriating that patients have been told for over 15 years to refrain from taking
vitamin C during methotrexate chemotherapy, when this hypo-thesis was tested and proved
not to be true!
One other omission, which I trust will be correct in subsequent
printings of this book, is the non-inclusion of Positive Health’s Cancer
section within this massive internet site – www.positivehealth.com.
Accessed from the home page, readers should select Articles, then Cancer. In addition to
many authoritative and highly informative articles on breast cancer and many other types
of cancer, there is an extensive section providing links to major cancer internet sites
around the world. |
