How many are now second-guessing their own treatment after the model’s dangerous intervention? Elle Macpherson believes, for some reason, that disease thrives in an acidic body. The Australian ex-supermodel swears by the benefits of limiting red meat, wheat, dairy, sugar and processed food, and by something she calls “alkalising greens” (no, me neither). Through her glossy wellness brand, WelleCo, she tirelessly promotes her Super Elixir – a blend of vitamins and minerals apparently devised by her naturopath when she was feeling rundown and menopausal – to women who want to look as incredible ..read more

I’m lucky I can text my biological father. Good donors must be available to the children they make, for their whole lives I’m what you might call a health nerd. Every week I do weights, I swim, I walk. My energy levels are great. I sleep as well as any parent of young kids can. Unfortunately, serious disease doesn’t respect my efforts. A couple of months ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer, which seems ridiculous for the reasons above. And – this is the scary thing – there were no warning signs. I cannot stress this enough, as someone who has absorbed all the messaging about breast checks ..read more

Supermodel says she is in remission after being diagnosed seven years ago and rejecting traditional medicine Elle Macpherson has said she was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago but is now in remission despite refusing chemotherapy. The Australian supermodel and actor, who rose to fame in the 1980s, is publishing a memoir – Elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself – in which she says she took a holistic approach to the illness, going against the advice of 32 doctors ..read more

After a few dates, Marg Arnold was charmed by the new man in her life. When she discovered they both owned the same ‘sexy tool’, she knew they had a future together Find more stories from The moment I knew series here I’d been single for a couple of years when I won the booby prize in 2006. My family has a history of breast cancer so, although I was shocked, I wasn’t too surprised to find myself on the receiving end of a solemn diagnosis. Living in regional Victoria made cancer treatment tough. I had chemo and radiotherapy locally and travelled to Melbourne for a double mastectomy and recons ..read more

Having a mastectomy is tough enough without the added pressure to have a breast reconstruction just to conform to conventional representations of womanliness As a small-breasted woman, my boobs have rarely been ogled. Yet this year I’ve noticed people staring at my chest. At the dog park a woman who stopped to chat spent the entire time with her eyes locked well south of my chin, like those sleazy tit-talkers whom big-busted women complain about. I wanted to say, “Go on, ask me, where has my breast gone?” But I didn’t, because then I’d have to answer my own question. And telling people you hav ..read more

Urgent need to recruit more mammographers to enable disease to be detected promptly, says professional body Women are receiving late breast cancer diagnoses and experiencing treatment delays due to a shortage of specialist staff who can deliver breast cancer scans, according to leading radiographers. Specialist scans that are used to detect breast cancer are undertaken by radiographers, also known as mammographers, who specialise in breast imaging ..read more

Screening is failing to reach too many women from immigrant commmunities. Understanding why is the only way we can save lives Four years ago I met a woman in the street. I was doing research on why so many immigrant women in Sweden don’t have mammograms. Had she received an invitation for an appointment? ”Yes, but I’ve never gone to hospital to have a mammogram,” the 53-year-old replied. When I asked why, she said why would she go to a hospital to see a doctor when she was healthy and didn’t have any symptoms? A few months ago I bumped into her again, this time at a bus stop near Karolinska ho ..read more

Pharmacologist whose research into tamoxifen helped many women with breast cancer to live longer In the 1970s only 40% of women diagnosed with breast cancer could expect to survive for 10 years or more. Today that figure is over 75%. Screening and early diagnosis have played a part, but one of the key reasons for the improvement is the drug tamoxifen, which massively reduces the risk of cancer recurring after surgery. The British-American pharmacologist Craig Jordan, who has died aged 76, was the first to show that tamoxifen could stop tumours growing by blocking the female hormone oestrogen f ..read more

Cancer doctors know better than anyone how you can give yourself the best possible chance of avoiding a disease that one in two of us will get. Here, they share the tips that they live by Despite the fact that one in two people will get cancer, many of us are ill informed about what we can do to prevent it. How do oncologists live their lives based on what they know? Doctors share the secrets of living healthily and the risks worth taking – or not ..read more

World’s largest cancer conference in Chicago shares ‘impressive’ findings in vaccines, drug trials and AI At the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, the world’s largest cancer conference, doctors, scientists and researchers shared new findings on ways to tackle the disease. The event in Chicago, attended by about 44,000 health professionals, featured more than 200 sessions focused on this year’s theme, The Art and Science of Cancer Care: From Comfort to Cure. Here is a roundup of the key studies ..read more