This article has been updated. A September 30 version erroneously labeled 'breast cancer's being associated with the use of bra' as myth. New studies claiming otherwise have been cited.
Using antiperspirants and wearing bras have been claimed to have increased the risk of breast cancer. Study results, however, on the use of bra and breast cancer are conflicting.
Which reports can be relied on?
You might have heard or read of claims that antiperspirants and bras can kill by increasing breast cancer risk. Those claims, according to BreastCancer.Org, are based on these concerns:
- Bra, specifically underwire, cause breast cancer by hindering the lymph fluid drainage found at the bottom of the breast, so it can't return to your body.
- Antiperspirant can cause breast cancer by blocking the discharge of toxins whenever you perspire and cause these toxins to increase in the breast.
Nevertheless, a 2014 medical review published by the American Cancer Society (ACS) states that there's no scientific proof to back up either of those claims. "There are no scientifically valid studies that show wearing bras of any type causes breast cancer," the ACS confirms. "Furthermore, the alleged mechanism suggested in the book 'Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras' and in chain e-mails (blocked lymphatic vessels causing toxins to accumulate) is inconsistent with scientific concepts of breast physiology and pathology."
Another 2014 study posted in American Association for Cancer Research concluded that no amount or aspect of bra wearing was associated with risks of breast cancer among postmenupausal women. In an email, however, to Parent Herald, the co-author of 'Dressed to Kill' Syd Singer expressed: "Actually, despite what the ACS says, there are numerous studies linking bras with breast cancer. The most recent is a peer reviewed study from Brazil in 2016, entitled, Wearing a Tight Bra for Many Hours a Day is Associated with Increased Risk of Breast Cancer, in Advances in Oncology Research and Treatments."
Do you think Singer and the proponents of the studies linking breast cancer with the use of bra are against the wearing of the lingerie itself? "We are not anti-bra. We are pro-breast. We believe there are no known health benefits from wearing bras - but there are disturbing parallels between bras and incidents of fibrocystic disease and breast cancer," Dr Elizabeth R. Vaughan from America clarifies.
How about antiperspirants?
Here is one more supposed misconception: Using antiperspirant increases your breast cancer risk. Research on antiperspirant use and risk of breast cancer was determined by uncertainties that compounds in deodorants/antiperspirants may go into the skin nearby the breast and trigger changes in the cells of the breast, which could lead to breast cancer. Nonetheless, a fact sheet from the National Cancer Institute showed no association between the use of antiperspirant and deodorant and the risk of breast cancer.
Another study in 2006 has proven this claim untrue, according to the Guardian. The study examined females with and without cancer in the breast and discovered that 82 percent of females without breast cancer had utilized antiperspirants/deodorants while only 52 percent of females with breast cancer had, which definitely does not support the claim that antiperspirant increases risk of breast cancer.
What do you think of your antiperspirants? Have you heard of recent studies refuting the above statements? Please feel free to share in the comment section below.
