An old rumour about bras causing breast cancer stays relevant to this day. While it is said the rumour has been proven false, not everyone believes it. So in this article, join me as we figure out once and for all whether bras cause breast cancer or not.
The basis:
Before we can completely look into it, we first need to understand some concepts. Some studies have claimed that wearing a tight bra for long periods of time restricts blood flow and increases the risk of breast cancer. Studies like this one had the result that women who wore tight bras more often had their risk of cancer at 2.27-fold higher than women who didn’t wear tight bras often.
The most popular of this rumour is the book by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer called Dressed to Kill. In the book, Singer and Grismajier concluded that wearing an underwire bra restricts the lymph system and results in a build up of toxins in the breasts.
Newer grounds:
According to a study in 2014 with 15,000 postmenopausal women involved, there was no association between wearing bras and the increased risk of breast cancer, albeit there were some statistics suggesting A cup bra wearers had a slightly higher risk of breast cancer. According to a book called Breast Book, by American surgeon, advocate of preventive breast cancer researcher, and author Dr. Susan Love, the reason the hypothesis between bra and breast cancer exists is because we are trying to pinpoint a source to find the cause of something we don’t know about. Try as we might, we still don’t know much about cancer, and we need to continue finding answers.
De Factos
According to the Mayo Clinic, there are many causes of breast cancer, not just one. In fact, there isn’t just one type of breast cancer. Researchers have concluded that hormonal, lifestyle, and environmental factors all contribute to breast cancer. It is, however, important to note that while these increase the risk of breast cancer, it doesn’t necessarily dictate whether or not you will get breast cancer.
Some major factors that increase risk of breast cancer are:
- Gender
- Age
- Personal or family history
- Genes
- Exposure to radiation
- Obesity
- Having period early
- Having menopause late
- Having your first child late
- Never getting pregnant
- Postmenopausal hormone therapy
- Drinking alcohol
So… what is the conclusion? The conclusion is bras have a low chance of giving you the risk of breast cancer, since there are no recent or scientific studies that prove that wearing bras can increase your risk in developing breast cancers. So next time you go bra shopping, you don’t have to worry about the risk of breast cancer!
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