TAOS, NM, June 23, 2005—An unspoken fear haunts most women today—the fear that breast cancer is inevitable, and that the clock is ticking. Everyone knows someone who has it or had it. Every woman’s worst nightmare is compounded by the common belief that it’s impossible to prevent. And that treatment delivers disfigurement, months or years of debilitating chemo and even then, uncertain outcomes.
Christine Horner, MD, FACS, who has been at the front lines of the fight against breast cancer for over ten years, is launching a new campaign to dispel the commonly held misperception that there is little a woman can do to substantially lower her risk of breast cancer or improve her chances of surviving it. Dr. Horner’s goal is to reverse the alarming increase in the rate of breast cancer by raising awareness of the dozens of research-proven natural approaches that are highly effective at protecting against and fighting breast cancer.
“The viability of natural approaches has largely been overlooked,” says Dr. Horner. “Credible human studies show breast cancer can be reduced and survival enhanced dramatically through simple dietary and lifestyle changes.”
Dr. Horner’s new book, Waking the Warrior Goddess: Dr. Christine Horner’s Program to Protect Against and Fight Breast Cancer, was released in April 2005 by Basic Health Publications. This groundbreaking work presents a simple 30-step program to help women incorporate healthy lifestyle changes to prevent and fight breast cancer naturally.
In the 90s, Horner became a national hero by successfully pushing legislation through 35 states and then Congress requiring insurance companies to pay for breast reconstruction after mastectomy. She was named Glamour magazine’s “WOW Woman of the Month” in February 1999, and celebrated as a member of Oprah’s “Angel Network” on national TV in 2000.
“This time it’s more personal than ever,” says Dr. Horner. “At the beginning of the 5-year legislative campaign, I lost my own mother to breast cancer. Equally disturbing was the trend I witnessed in my practice and across the country—younger and younger women falling victim to breast cancer every year.” This along with her personal unwillingness to become a breast cancer victim herself compelled this surgeon/activist to make radical changes in her life’s direction. After years of research, Horner, now a former surgeon, has become a leading educator in the area of women’s wellness and breast health.
“The incidence of breast cancer has risen 21 percent in the last four years. Greater cultural affluence,” she says, “seems to be directly related to higher levels.
“Women in Asia on average have 6 times lower risk of breast cancer, but when they move to the U.S. they rapidly become on a par with American women. How we eat and live in the U.S. is a prescription for disaster.”
Dr. Horner emphasizes that even in a highly toxic environment, many common foods, natural spices, herbs and supplements can help to significantly protect women from breast cancer. The list includes green tea, turmeric, grape seed extract, garlic, flax seeds, CoQ10, soy, rosemary, maitake mushrooms, wakame and mekabu seaweed, vitamin D, and many plant chemicals, especially several found in cruciferous vegetables such as DIM and calcium D-gluterate.
Everyone should know there are dozens of natural sources and techniques that are highly effective at warding off breast cancer and also helping you fight the disease if you already have it,” she says. “It’s never too early or too late to incorporate health-promoting habits, foods, and products into your life.”