A large-scale study has gathered data on breast cancer and bra wearing, concluding unequivocally that breast cancer is not associated with the wearing of bras.
Photograph by Melissa Maples/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0
Breast cancer is more likely to occur in women from developed countries than developing countries. Women in developed countries are also more likely to wear bras. And since bras support breasts, bras must be the cause of breast cancer, right?
This was the conclusion of the authors of ‘Dressed To Kill’, a book suggesting a link between bra wearing and breast cancer, thus creating a completely evidence-free scare in the public’s collective consciousness. The authors of this book used their imagination and anecdotal observations, however, these do not qualify as scientific methods.
The present study however, set out to achieve results with population-level applicability. The researchers interviewed over 1,510 post-menopausal women: 454 who have dealt with invasive ductal carcinoma, 590 with invasive lobular carcinoma, and 469 women with no breast cancer history.
The researchers determined each woman’s bra wearing, genetic predisposition towards cancers, and lifestyle information for the study.
The results show that breast cancer is not associated with the age at which women start wearing bras, the frequency of bra wearing, or the bra’s cup size.
Rest assured, bras are safe.
Originally published on Thinkinc.org.au
Story source: Science Daily
Research paper: Lu Chen, Kathleen E. Malone, and Christopher I. Li. Bra Wearing Not Associated with Breast Cancer Risk: A Population-Based Case–Control Study. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, September 2014 DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-14-0414