cover image The Breast Health Cookbook: Fast and Simple Recipes to Reduce the Risk of Cancer

The Breast Health Cookbook: Fast and Simple Recipes to Reduce the Risk of Cancer

Bob Arnot. Little Brown and Company, $25.45 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-316-05133-0

Having researched cancer-preventative foods, Dr. Arnot was disappointed when women seemed uninterested in his recommendations. He has since learned ""the three most important criteria"" for healthy meals: ""Taste, taste, taste."" In this companion volume to the bestselling The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet, Arnot offers an array of recipes featuring the foods most likely to help people avoid breast cancer (and prostate cancer as well). With more than 150 recipes from nutritionists Rita Mitchell and Barbara Sutherland, the book is structured around ethnic categories of diet Asian, New American, Mediterranean along with suggested meals. Recipes are provided for main courses, sandwiches, soups, desserts and more. The recipes frequently involve soy products, which Arnot believes are key for preventing cancer. The quality and inventiveness of the recipes is uneven. There are, for example, healthier but not particularly original versions of minestrone soup and macaroni and cheese. Some recipes Goat Cheese with Melon may be appealing, but aren't specifically anti-cancer fare. Most interesting is the dessert chapter, which offers a number of enticing treats including a Cheese Tart and Ginger Yogurt. Overall, the recipes are not unique or superior to those found in many other low-fat or ""healthier"" cookbooks. But facts like ""women in the Far East have 90 percent less breast cancer than American women"" will grab the reader's attention. And given Arnot's visibility as chief medical correspondent for NBC News, early sales are likely to be brisk. National television and radio interview campaign. (Oct. 3)