But it isn't. The Daily Beast article by investigative reporter Gerald Posner isn't full of witty zingers meant to put Somers in her place. Instead, it is a startling investigation into the scientific claims Somers makes in her most recent book, Knockout: Interviews with Doctors who are Curing Cancer and how to Prevent Getting It in the First Place.
What Posner reveals is frightening, in part because the regimen Somers touts may actually contribute to an increase in cancer rates. And according to some doctors, it may have caused Somers' own breast cancer. It is also frightening because Somers, likened by Posner to a televangelist, has spread her gospel right up the New York Times bestseller list--for the second time in three years.
Her recent book and the one she penned in 2006, Ageless: The Naked Truth about Bioidentical Hormones, are selling. In each, she uses recommendations from questionable medical "authorities," and throws her support behind a wonder drug--mainly a controversial hormone therapy--whose positive effects have not been medically substantiated.
The consequences (says Posner and the experts he interviewed for his investigation) could be dire. Before you buy the book or subscribe to what Somers says will keep you looking young and staying alive longer, consider these points.
Her wonder drugs may have caused her own cancer. Suzanne Somers' intense daily routine--including injections of human growth hormones and vitamin B, use of estrogen suppositories, applications of estrogen cream, and ingesting 60 supplements--were given a stamp of approval on air by Oprah herself earlier this year. Suzanne Somers proclaimed her regimen to be "the fountain of youth we've all been looking for" and a relief for women entering menopause.
The major problem with this is that these "bioidentical" hormones are not natural, they're synthetically produced in laboratories, they're not different from hormones sold by major pharmaceutical companies, and they may, in fact, cause cancer.
While Somers' book claims using bioidentical hormones may protect against breast cancer and prostate cancer, medical experts refute that, citing European studies that show bioidenticals increase cancer risk and reporting that the bioidentical business is a multi-billion dollar industry without scientific substantiation.
Although Somers developed breast cancer while using bioidentical hormones, she says it was spurred by years of taking birth control pills and other medications. Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, Associate Professor in Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Georgetown’s School of Medicine, says both breast cancer and the abnormal uterine cell growth that led to a hysterectomy for Somers are known side effects of hormone therapy. Still, Somers denies the link and endorses the injections.
Perhaps the scariest assessment of Somers' own daily routine and the fountain of youth she's selling to an audience that is rapidly growing, is from the founder of the North American Menopause Society, Dr. Wulf Utian:
"We will eventually see a dramatic increase in uterine cancer because of bioidentical regimens like the one promoted by Somers,” Dr. Utian predicts.
Even if there's no proof that Somers' shots and creams created her own cancer, what if bioidenticals lead to more widespread illness?
Her experts shouldn't be trusted.
Sure, it's tempting to listen to a celebrity hawk advice outside of his or her area of expertise because we somehow relate to their life experiences or think that if Oprah trusts them then we should as well. It is even more tempting to trust a doctor quoted in that celebrity's book. However, multiple investigations into the experts Somers interviews in her books reveal some very real credibility issues.
While Posner says some "seem to have quirky elements to some aspect of their practice, but don’t seem dangerous", Somers' experts also include a doctor who has been repeatedly tagged by his state medical board as one of the top five most serious offenders in his state. Another doctor claims his detox method can kill cancer--but has no oncology training or experience.
Reading the details and back-stories of these doctors and experts made me wonder how in the world Suzanne Somers felt confident about sharing their suggestions and "wisdom" so vehemently. Of course, she's passionate about eradicating cancer. But who isn't? Who doesn't want to find the magic pill to wipe out a disease that already kills too many people?
However, if the doctors and scientists criticizing Somers and her band of bioidentical hormone supporters are right, if the regimen in Knockout could actually cause cancer rather than protect against it, then it's time for that book to come down from the bestseller list. It's time for all the people standing in bookstores, considering buying it, to put it back on the shelf.
Is the actor the only person to blame here? Of course not. But she's certainly someone who is profiting from the books and products and press.
Would you buy what Suzanne Somers is selling?
Read more:
- Super-natural: 4 foods that fight cancer
- One simple, straightforward way to help a cancer patient
- Let's talk about sex: After menopause
[photo credit: Getty Images/Frazer Harrison]
