The myth that wearing a bra could increase the risk of breast cancer has been dispelled after the results of a new study.
Researchers were looking into a link between bras and breast cancer but found that no aspect of wearing the undergarment was associated with increased risks for breast cancer, according to the study recently published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
The study involved 1,500 postmenopausal women and compared the bra-wearing habits of women who had been diagnosed with cancer and those who have not. The participants included women with the most common types of breast cancer, 454 women with invasive ductal carcinoma and 590 women with invasive lobular carcinoma. They also studied 469 women who did not have breast cancer.
Factors including cup size, hours worn per day, the age they started wearing a bra and whether it had an underwire were not shown to have any evidential impact on the increased risk of breast cancer.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month each year, bringing awareness and attention to the disease which is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women.
One on eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and it is the second leading cause of death in women, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Image credit: AbElena/Shutterstock
I am a medical anthropologist breast cancer researcher. This article mentions my book, Dressed To Kill.
Actually, this study supports the bra-cancer link, since all the women in the cancer group were lifetime bra wearers. In addition, the study is useless since none of the women were bra-free, so it lacks a proper control for examining bra wearing impacts. No bra-free baseline. They also did not look at bra tightness, which is a major factor in the bra-cancer link, which is about tight bras causing lymphatic constriction.
All this study really shows is that some women who have worn bras for 40 years or longer will get breast cancer and some will not. We already knew that. You can say the same thing about smokers and lung cancer.
There is also evidence of a hidden agenda. The study said there were no reported conflicts of interest, but did not mention that The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center receives money annually from a “Bra Dash” fundraiser, where pink bras are worn on the outside of clothing during a 5K race to raise breast cancer research funds.
It would be very ironic to criticize bras for causing cancer when they are used to raise funds for cancer research.
Can we expect honest, reliable research when there is so much money and reputation at stake? The lingerie and cancer treatment industries are very powerful, making multi-billions of dollars annually.
And since cancer “experts” at the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen, and National Cancer Institute have been denying for years that there is any bra-cancer link, how can a study come out proving them wrong? What would be the reaction of the public to news that 20 years of cancer industry denial of a link between bras and breast cancer has been wrong, resulting in hundreds of thousands of lives needlessly lost?
They need to stick to their lie.
To get the full story on the bra-cancer link, see my website KillerCulture dot com.
Sydney– This is super interesting and Im interested in learning more about the risk.. Im about to burn my bra for good after reading some of the info out here. I heard about your book, Dressed to Kill , on the internet. Im so glad you commented on this article. Send me an email if you can! shadyside sweetheart a t gmail
Thanks!
Perhaps not linked to bras but I do believe there is some truth in a connection with toxins such as heavy metals. Apparently, some believe anyone who has breast cancer also happens to have root canals. The metals seep down into the body.