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A new study shows that wearing a bra is linked to higher incidence of breast cancer. Women who wear a bra 24 hours a day are 125 times a likely to develop cancer as women who don1t wear one at all, according to medical anthropologists Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer. In a study involving 4,700 women, those who never wore a bra had the same incidence of breast cancer as men a rare condition. Women who worebras for more than 12 hours but did not sleep in them had 21 times the risk as women who wore a bra for less than 12 hours.
It is postulated that lymphatic vessels are blocked by the bra, keeping lymphocytes (white blood cells) from their role in destroying abnormal cells, and leading to malignancies. However, even without knowing the exact mechanism, the correlation is significant: 4 to 12 times as great as the connection between smoking and lung cancer. Singer and Grismaijer's book, Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, elaborates on their research.
The new drug Tamoxifen, which is getting a lot of attention in the press as a cancer preventative, also increases the risk of ovarian and uterine cancer, fatal blood clots, and cataracts. Clearly, pharmaceuticals will not prevent cancer and are likely to increase risk. Lifestyle changes offer important protections, but they don1t put money in manufacturers' pockets.
The research raises an interesting question. Women with large breasts are more likely to find it difficult to go without a bra, which leads to some conjecture about the possible correlation between breast size and breast cancer. The authors suggest that more studies are needed.
Dressed to Kill : The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras by Sydney Ross Singer,
Soma Grismaijer Avery Pub Group, ISBN: 0895296640
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