by US Staff (Wed Nov 11, 2009)
Suzanne Somers
first became famous as the airhead blonde bombshell Chrissy Snow on the US sitcom
‘Three's Company' (not doing too many favors for women even back then). Then
she did what many actresses do, and moved into the fitness industry - you might
have bought one of her infomercial ab rippers or exercise tapes over the years.
She went from
exercise to skin care I seem to remember (and, if you ask me, a bunch of
plastic surgery), until finally, in 2006, she authored a bestseller that
positioned her as not only an aging actress, infomercial huckster and very rich
woman, but a medical expert to boot. In that book, ‘Ageless,' she claimed that
she had found, and I do mean this literally, the fountain of youth that we all
have been searching for. That fountain is apparently made up of bioidentical
hormones which, according to real medical experts, is a pseudo-scientific
misnomer for hormone replacement. Somers explains in this book how she takes 60
supplements a day, shoots up Human Growth Hormone and injects some sort of estrogen directly
into her vagina in order to stop hot flashes and increase her sex drive. Nice.
Anyhoo(ha), this
week Somers launched another book which made it to the bestseller list. In this
one, entitled ‘Knockout: Interviews
With Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer and How to Prevent Getting It in the First
Place,' she continues to sing the praises of bioidenticals and alternative
medicines. Only problem this time is that the former actress and celebrity
pitch person is now making claims that most reputable doctors fear will not
only not prevent cancer but may even be contributory in causing it in women.
You see, the 2002 Women's Health Initiative, one of the largest medical
studies ever performed, concluded that estrogen and progestagen do cause cancer
and increase the risk of death. And whether she is calling them bioidenticals
or hormones, they are the same thing. In other words, they are hormones,
they just play bioidenticals on TV.
Listen Ms. Somers, you're filthy rich, you're hanging on to your looks
tooth and nail and you're successful. Leave it at that and don't let it all go
to your head in a way that you are putting the lives of other women at risk by
confusing the facts. Your power trip is going to cost some women their lives.
