Do Bras Cause Breast Cancer?
Categories: Advice, Health, Breast Cancer
PrintDo Bras Cause Breast Cancer?">
For over a decade, there have been rumours of a connection between the wearing of bras and the prevalence of breast cancer. Some of the rumours allege that women who wear bras are 100 times more likely to develop breast cancer than those who forgo bras. Underwire has also been blamed as a culprit, with allegations that the wire prevents lymphatic drainage and traps potentially fatal toxins in the breast tissue. Some sites have even alleged that the connection between bras and cancer is much stronger than the connection between smoking and cancer. While most of us are wise enough to be dubious about many of the things we read online, some of the information has come from seemingly credible sources. This week, The New York Times article "Q&A: Bras and Cancer" asked Dr. Ted Gansler, director of medical content for the American Cancer Society to respond to the rumour.
So, is there a connection between bras and breast cancer?
According to Dr. Gansler, "the short answer is no." He says that there is no credible scientific evidence to support claims that bras result in the accumulation of toxins within breast tissue -- and that such a claim doesn't jive with known concepts of how breast cancer develops. (Though the lack of any definitive scientific pursuit of this connection probably won't help to dispel rumours.) Even more, when the National Cancer Institute studied women with blocked lymph drainage (as a result of the removal of underarm lymph nodes), they found that breast cancer rates were not detectably raised for this group. Dr. Gansler says that the idea of bras causing breast cancer is so scientifically implausible that the theory will likely never by put to the test in a real epidemiological study.
So what do you think? Have you heard this bras and breast cancer rumour and did you believe it? Do you think it's worth exploring further?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Janet 2-18-2010 @ 12:19PM
I do not think that lack of lymphatic drainage may be the culprit, but perhaps we should be looking at the materials that bras are made of. Foams and other man-made materials made with chemicals etc. Has a study ever been done on this?
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James S. Fell 2-18-2010 @ 1:06PM
Somehow I doubt that manmade materials are going to cause it either. So many people are wearing a variety of manmade materials from head to toe each day.
Do people wearing polyesther ties get neck cancer? Do those sleeping on foam pillows get brain tumors? What about all those unnatural products in my runners? No foot cancer yet...
There is only the barest of evidence of cancer being caused by things like cell phones that actual emit radiation. I seriously doubt that inert materials are leaching toxic cancer-causing materials into our skin.
In other words, I'm all for bra wearing. It helps keep things perky.
James 2-19-2010 @ 11:09AM
The article in the New York Times states, “He (ACS's Gansler) and colleagues compared National Cancer Institute data on breast cancer risk for women treated for melanoma who had several underarm lymph nodes removed and those who did not. The surgery, which is known to block lymph drainage from breast tissue, did not detectably increase breast cancer rates, the study found, meaning that it is extremely unlikely that wearing a bra, which affects lymph flow minimally if at all, would do so.”
I researched this alleged “study” by the ACS, which is in the Breast Journal, Volume 15 Number 4, 2009. This was a letter, NOT a peer reviewed study! It also admits that there were too few women in their “study” to come to valid conclusions. However, they did also find increased incidence of skin cancer in the women who had had lymph node dissection. So lymphatic blockage was associated with increased cancer incidence.
The ACS concludes that women should feel reassured by their flimsy, non-peer reviewed “study” to continue wearing bras. Of course, the ACS also promotes bras on their website, and the lingerie industry works closely with them and also funds breast cancer research, just as the tobacco industry funds lung cancer research.
Naturally, the bra issue is very worth studying. But how will the ACS ever admit this oversight, ignoring the most obvious factor impacting on breast health? It’s like researching lung cancer while ignoring the effect of smoking.
The one sidedness of the presentation of this information smells like a cover-up. What else does the ACS have to hide?
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BreezeComfort 2-25-2010 @ 1:28AM
Whether bras cause breast cancer or not, it is more comfortable to have air circulation to the breast area. you might want to take a look at Breeze Comfort padded bras and sports bras. The bras are made with patented bra pad technology. The bra pads have perforations throughout to facilitate air circulation to the breast area. This helps release heat and helps prevent sponge effect (sweat collecting in the traditional bra pads).
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