Monday 7 March 2011

Bras and Breast Cancer

 Physically There are a lot of unknown reasons why someone gets Breast cancer.
Only a very small percentage is genetic.

There could be environmental reasons that haven’t been discovered
yet, or foods, additives, plastics, etc  ....

Can you get breast cancer by wearing a bra too much?
This is a question that we all heard before and most of us do not know
if that is true or just a myth.



Although Wearing bra all the day specially at night
may prevent your breasts to stimulate healthy blood flow.
There isn't a strong enough case to support that bras cause breast cancer.

The best answer that i have gotten for this question is
Some researchers have found a link to breast cancer for women who wear bras.
 Other researchers have not and even went as far as refuting the researchers
who have found a link to cancer.



The main problem with bras is that they tend to be ill-fitted,
 with either, and usually both, the band and the cup being too
small or too large --
and it's usually that the band and cup are too small.
This causes problems with breathing and cuts off free blood flow
to the breasts and lymph flow to the lymph nodes underneath the
breasts. A too-tight cup also bunches breast tissue unnaturally.
 The researchers that cite a link to breast cancer indicate that
 restricting lymph fluid flow and bunching breast tissue is
the possible cause of breast cancer.



Here a conclusion of a study in a book by Singer and Grismaijer and their explanation of impaired lymphatic flow intrigued me. what Singer and Grismaijer found was that the odds of getting breast cancer dramatically increased with bra-wearing over 12 hours per day.
 

    * Women who wore their bras 24 hours per day had a 3 out of 4 chance of developing breast cancer  .    
    * Women who wore bras more than 12 hour per day but not to bed had a 1 out of 7 risk.
    * Women who wore their bras less than 12 hours per day had a 1 out of 152 risk.
    * Women who wore bras rarely or never had a 1 out of 168 chance of getting breast cancer.

 The overall difference between 24 hour wearing and not at all was a 125-fold difference.

The results of this study are compelling, even considering that it was not a "controlled study" for other risk factors. Bear in mind that known (published in medical journals) risk factors for breast cancer are mostly in the range of less than three-fold differences. It should also be noted that Singer and Grismaijer surveyed bra-wearing behavior of the past, which is excellent for a disease with such a long development period. In their book, the authors show how most of the known risk factors can be related to bra-wearing behavior and/or the lymphatic system.
 

Breast Self Examination for Breast Cancer

Detecting Breast Cancer