Prevent Breast Cancer: Burn Your Bra?

Photo Credit: Mercola.com

Everyone has heard the usual advice for preventing breast cancer; eat healthy, avoid junk food, exercise, limit alcohol, etc.   Some health experts believe a new recommendation should be, "don't wear a bra."   Limiting time spent in a bra to avoid risk of breast cancer is raising controversy.

A study by Singer and Grismaijer in 1995 found that 3 out of 4 women studied who wore a bra for 24 hours a day developed breast cancer.  In contrast,  only 1 out of 168 who rarely or never wore a bra got breast cancer.

In their book, Dressed To Kill, doctors Sydney Singer and Soma Grismaijer reference a study they conducted of over 4,000 women, and found that women who do not wear bras have a much lower risk of breast cancer.

Their research found:

• 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 52 risk
• Women who wore bras rarely or never had a 1 out of 168 chance of getting breast cancer

The explanation behind the theory is that bras contrict the flow of the lymphatic system.  The lymph nodes are an important cleansing system for the breasts which carry away toxins and waste products.  

Dr. Joseph Mercola,founder of Mercola.com, the world's most popular natural health website,  wrote about this link between bra wearing and breast cancer in a recent newsletter. "I believe the results of this study are compelling, despite the fact that it was not a controlled study for other risk factors. There are few solid studies on bra wearing and breast cancer, but research showing links between the two is not entirely nonexistent.  For example, one 1991 study, published in the European Journal of Cancer, found that premenopausal women who did not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared with bra users."