Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book, supposedly the best book to use on breast cancer, is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I am not saying that one should not read it. However, you need to at least be aware of its shortcomings.

The first problem of the book is easy to spot. That is, too much of the book covers basic anatomy of breast tissue and development instead of the information that women who read the book need the most. The fact is, no one wants to wade through a bunch of non-essential material in order to find the answers to their most pressing questions. Particularly when one’s life hangs in the balance.

The next difficulty lies in the fact that the book was published only as recently as 2005. Surely the survival and mortality statistics the author quotes are outdated by now. The speed of medical advances in areas such as chemotherapy, antibodies, and hormonal therapy is usually a lot more swift than can be measured in five year increments. Consequently, the statistics on ten-year survival rates are especially suspect.

To make matters worse, Dr. Love takes a measly paragraph to guide women on reading and interpreting the statistics! How can they possibly move forward in their fight when they are ill-prepared and fearful?

Another flaw with the book is that there is much too much detail about rare complications of surgery and recurrence. Instead of focusing on the facts on which to base decisions, Dr Love agonizes over the number of lives lost as well as medical inadequacy. Once again, superfluous discussion is found where answers are most desperatley needed.

Even when Dr. Love does have some good information for the reader about how dangerous chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery can be, she still recommends it wholeheartedly. Even though she says herself that 2-9% of non-metastatic women experience benefits from chemotherapy and that these three treatment options carry devastating and often permanent side effects!

Not the kind of person I want giving me advice on matters that directly affect my health and ultimate quality of life. Let’s not forget that she is a doctor, after all, and may have a detached manner of assessing treatment plans.

Again, I am not saying that no one should read the book. Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book contains a respectable amount of material on breast cancer. However, I would not put all of my time into reading it, especially if I wanted to be able to take any kind of action right away in order to save my own life.

Looking for practical information about preventing breast cancer in yourself and the women you love? Visit the preventing breast cancer page on Holistic-Medicine-MD. Better yet, check out the book Breast Cancer: Reduce Your Risk With Foods You Love by Dr. Robert Pendergrast.