I came across an article on the Daily Mail titled “Bras DO make breasts less perky! Experts say ditching YOURS could improve blood flow, strengthen muscles and help defy gravity.”
I couldn’t help but read this article because I have read articles about a connection between bras and breast cancer and my own mother stopped wearing a bra years ago because breast cancer runs in our family and she didn’t want to take any chances.
Plus, bras don’t exactly get the love from women. Ever take yours off at the end of the day and go “ahhhhh”? I think most of us can say yes to that question!
Now that this article came about, I thought I would dig a little deeper to see if bras do really support our health (haha!)
According to BreastCancer.org: Approximately 13% (about one in eight) of U.S. women are going to develop invasive breast cancer in the course of their life. In 2023, an estimated 297,790 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in U.S. women, along with 55,720 new cases of DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ).
The American Cancer Society states: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, except for skin cancers. It is about 30% (or 1 in 3) of all new female cancers each year. In recent years, incidence rates have increased by 0.5% per year.
With breast cancer on the rise, and the horror of seeing younger and younger women being diagnosed, it is important to take a look at ourselves and see if anything we do or eat or drink or wear would cause you to be at risk.
To read more about what we ingest and how it can cause bodily harm and cancer I recommend reading my previous posts:
Red Dye (Die) – Don’t Taste The Rainbow
A Possible Victory over BVO? Finally!
Life in plastic: Not fantastic!
Now onto the bra!
Dr. David Williams MD stated, “Wearing a bra at least 14 hours a day tends to increase the hormone prolactin, which decreases circulation in the breast tissue. Decreasing circulation can impede your body’s natural removal of carcinogenic fluids that become trapped in the breast’s sac-like glands (lymphnodes). These glands make up the largest mass of lymph nodes in the upper part of your body’s lymphatic system.”
The book, “Dressed To Kill“, a book about the connection between bras and breast cancer, was written by medical anthropologists Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer. They conducted a study of over 4,700 women across the United States with half of those women having previously been diagnosed with breast cancer. The results from that study showed the longer you wore a bra, the increased chance of developing breast cancer. Here are their findings:
Dr. Lucky Sekhon, a board-certified OB/GYN and reproductive endocrinologist, has refuted the claims that not wearing a bra causes drooping or sagging. In fact, in her opinion, it is the opposite. After not wearing a bra for some time, your muscles in the chest and back will naturally become stronger leading to natural support to your bust. Your breasts will become firmer and perkier over time.
Denis Rouillon, a sports science expert located in France, claims the bra is a false necessity. He states, “Medically, physiologically, anatomically – breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra.”
Rouillon conducted a 15 year study on hundreds of women to distinguish measurement changes in breasts. He later found that women who never wore bras had nipples on average seven millimeters higher in relation to their shoulders each year than regular bra users.
In fact, many women in various countries do not wear bras at all at any time. Countries like Japan, Peru and India are the top three countries where bras aren’t normally used. To read more click on the article by World Population Review here.
Another reason to think about ditching your bra, is the fact that if you don’t wash your bra regularly it can cause a host of skin-related issues.
Kemunto Mokaya, dermatologist and author of Live and Look Younger, explains that an accumulation of sweat, dead skin cells, and grime on the bra creates “an environment conducive to bacterial and fungal growth, leading to potential infections, such as folliculitis or candida intertrigo.”
Folliculitis is defined as: common skin condition that happens when hair follicles become inflamed. It’s often caused by an infection with bacteria. At first it may look like small pimples around the tiny pockets from where each hair grows (hair follicles).
Candida Intertrigo is defined as: a common and treatable skin condition that can lead to an infection. It often happens in skin folds where your skin rubs together. The friction causes inflammation that looks like a red, bumpy rash.
If you do wear a bra every day make sure to wash it every few wears and more often if you do a lot of physical activity and/or exercise.
Now there are plenty of doctors that refute the “bras cause breast cancer” notion.
Dr. Susan Love wrote a book titled “Breast Book” and claims “the hypothesis about bras causing cancer stems from our desire to have control over areas of life where we have a lot of uncertainty or fear. People want something to blame, and also hope that by avoiding bras they can avoid breast cancer.[3] While there are geographic variations in breast cancer rates, there are many, many factors, including diet, exercise, lifestyle, childbearing practices, as well as other behaviors and exposures that are more plausible explanations for these regional differences in breast cancer than bras. In places where people have less access to medical care, breast cancer will not be diagnosed as often, even though it might be present. And because the risk of breast cancer increases as women get older, breast cancer rates will be lower in parts of the world where people die of other causes at younger ages, whether they have worn bras or not.
The American Cancer Society states, “There is no scientific or clinical basis for this claim, and a 2014 study of more than 1,500 women found no association between wearing a bra and breast cancer risk.”
While there may be no hard fact or black and white answer, it is up to you to decide what to do for your overall health. It is important to know both sides of a story so you can make an educated decision about your body and its health.
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