Bras and Breast Cancer

I received an email a few years ago that warned against the use of constricting bras.

"For years, a lot of articles with regards to the causes of breast cancer point to an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise as the major links to this disease which happens to be the biggest killer among women during these last two decades. These studies would have been almost credible if it were not for the fact that several women (including Linda McCartney who have been religious vegetarians and exercise-freaks have also been unfortunate in suffering breast cancer. "

The connection between bra and breast cancer has been the subject of the book Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras by two anthropologists Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer. The authors studied not only 4,700 women in 5 major U.S. Cities, but also native cultures in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji islands and Japan. They noticed that the "westernized" Japanese, Fijians and the Maoris of New Zealand who converted themselves to a bra-wearing culture had the same rate of breast cancer as the Americans under study, whereas the aboriginals in these countries had practically no breast cancer.

However, the American Cancer Society (ACS) argues that Singer and Grismaijer's study lacks validity, as it was not conducted according to standard principles of epidemiological research and did not take into consideration other variables, including known risk factors for breast cancer.

Be that as it may, I'd still consider the argument against wearing tight bras, as it makes sense to my common sense.

Talking about my own country, India, my mother and grand mothers would wear a cotton bodice underneath their blouses. This undergarment had no stitches and could be tied into a knot in a free-style fashion, thus keeping them from uncomfortable bobbing.

Many studies have unequivocally indicated most women wear wrong sized bras. But how does this cause the blessed tumor to form? Ill-fitting, tight bras, especially the push-up and underwire bras, restrict the flow of lymph through the breasts, preventing your body from washing away dangerous cancer-causing toxins like DDT or dioxin that adhere to the body's fatty tissues in the breast, causing fluid build-up, swelling, tenderness and cyst formation. Many women wear these constricting bra 24 hours a day and even while sleeping, without realizing this would possibly lead to anoxia (lower than normal oxygen content) and pave the way to fibrosis in the breasts.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone who might have noticed swelling of feet and ankles on a long airplane flight that is caused by the sluggishness in the lymphatic system. If still in doubt, even a cursory examination of the breasts of many women would reveal red creases and grooves caused by the elastic bands in the bras.

Of course, there are other mechanisms for the damage that bras apparently cause. Bras slightly increase the temperature of the breast tissue and probably cause the body to have higher levels of the hormone prolactin. These may influence breast cancer formation.

How to avoid sending invitations to breast cancer? Don't wear a tight bra. And don't wear them round the clock. You need a bra while wearing a loose shirt, because you need to support the breasts. But there are dresses that provide support, however limited, to the breasts without the use of tight elastic contraptions. A good fitting blouse, for example, that is worn with a saree in India, is shaped in such a way as to fit in with the contours of the body, and could easily be worn without a bra without any discomfort. Do dare to try such dresses at least once in a while without a bra.

Those who postpone having children and those who do not breastfeed their babies stand a higher risk of breast cacer. Coincidentally, the lymphatic system in the breast only develops fully during pregnancy and breastfeeding. This shows the importance of having a clog-free lymphatic system.

Another noteworthy fact is that the established risk factors for breast cancer account for only a minority of the cases. But the majority of women, as high as 75%, who get breast cancer, do not have any of the typically mentioned risk factors such as smoking, or early menarche.

Could a tight bra be the missing link?

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