Cancer

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Following in the footsteps of women like Sharon Osbourne and others, a 24-year-old Miss America contestant who is set to represent Washington D.C. has announced that she will be removing both of her breasts through double masectomy in order to ‘prevent’ breast cancer that killed her mother. This trend, which is actually advocated by many doctors (gynecologists in particular, it seems), is considered ‘heroic’ by many mainstream media outlets that fail to mention the barbaric nature of the procedure and the powerful importance of nutrition and lifestyle when it comes to real cancer prevention.

Miss America contestant Allyn Rose says that she is genetically predisposed to breast cancer, and that she feels it is the only choice for her to stay alive because of it.

If Rose wins the pageant this year, she says she will undergo surgery later in January of 2014. If not, she will have the surgery performed as early as next June. According to her interview with the NY Daily News, Rose says she is ‘choosing life over beauty’. She said:

“Breasts don’t define your life. I’m choosing life over beauty. I’m choosing to remove something that’s so iconic to my womanhood.”

Rose’s statements echo those of Sharon Osbourne and other women like Allison Gilbert who have decided that a double masectomy is the only way to truly prevent breast cancer from taking their lives. Gilbert explained to CNN, in fact, that her gynecologist had convinced her that the procedure was necessary to ‘stay alive’ for her children.

What the doctors fail to explain to these patients, however, is the way in which nutrition and lifestyle choices affect not only gene expression but diseases like cancer and many others. As I’ve detailed in my previous post on the subject, numerous pieces of research have shown that antioxidants can actually fight cancer at a genetic level. Inexpensive antioxidant-rich foods, of course, include onions and blueberries. These food items can make a serious difference down to the genetic level – no surgery required.

A Disturbing Trend: Removing Limbs Now ‘Prevention’?

Even more concerning than the fact that these women are not being informed about their true options is the fact that removing limbs is somehow becoming a new trend within the mainstream media. Women removing their breasts in the name of prevention is now hailed as a ‘life-preserving’ act instead of one that is absolutely ludicrous.

In other words, healthy lifestyle choices like avoiding real problematic substances linked to breast cancer like BPA (linked in over 130 studies) and fragrance chemicals. It also means removing body parts in place of anti-cancer foods that have been shown to combat breast cancer.

Is this the beginning of a very harmful and concerning trend that promotes ‘preventative’ medicine as nothing more than removing limbs upon discovering a supposed genetic pre-disposition? Furthermore, where does it end? If you have a history of stomach cancer, will you be told to remove your stomach in favor of an artificial replacement? How about liver cancer?

The fact is that real prevention involves significant nutrition and lifestyle changes, whereas the act of limb removal ignores natural alternatives in favor of a barbaric act of self mutilation.