Soma and Syd Singer interviewed 4,000 women in five major US cities for two and a half years starting in May, 1991 ranging from 30 to 79 years old. Half had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Three out of four women who slept in their bras developed breast cancer. One out of seven who wore their bras more than 12 hours a day developed breast cancer. But most amazing was that only one women in 168 who didn’t wear a bra developed breast cancer and that’s the same number as men, who don’t wear bras!
Their research was begun when Soma discovered a lump in her breast and Syd remembered Soma mentioning that her bra felt tight, but she got used to that feeling.
Syd explains that relationship “because lymphatic vessels are very thin, they are extremely sensitive to pressure and are easily compressed…. Thus, less oxygen and fewer nutrients are delivered to the cells, while waste products are not flushed away.”
Submitting their research to several of the major cancer groups and research organizations, not one replied. The Singers concluded that cancer and bra manufacturing are billion dollar industries that would lose income if simply discarding bras reduced breast cancer.
Furthermore, the Singers found that women with lumps, cysts and tenderness saw them vanish within a month of getting rid of their bras.
Want to lower your risk of breast cancer? Don’t wear a bra at all or wear it as little as possible and do not sleep in it.
For the whole story, get the book.
Wow, how discouraging to recognize those statistics.
I heard a webinare on this. Atrophy is the result of wearing one regularly. I didn’t wear one Easter Weekend. But I haven’t managed a solution for work, dress up, everyday, etc. My two sports bras are tight. What is the ideal undergarment socially and otherwise?
Bras are horrible; painful, uncomfortable and another way to keep women constrained. Why so many get offended at a simple nipple is beyond me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressed_to_Kill_%28book%29
According to wikipedia, “the National Cancer Institute,[1] the American Cancer Society,[2] and the National Institutes of Health[3] have all concluded that there is no link between bra use and breast cancer.”
Clare,
I read “Dressed to Kill” many years ago. I have only worn yoga tops and bras from Blue Canoe ever since. I work in the corporate world, and these are fine for coverage, but are not binding like a traditional bra:
http://www.bluecanoe.com/collections/organic-womens-lingerie/products/a132
Best,
Teala
As stated in the article, Cancer is huge business and so are the making and selling of bras. They would not want to come up with something to make that money go away… Cancer will never go away because their dollars would go away. When we do have to wear a bra, because face it, some hanging boobs are just not appealing…. we need to make them as loose as possible. I’ve noticed after starting to go braless at home, when I put one on, it is tight around… not the cup part, but around my body… the indent from wearing one is filling in… so I need to get a larger around bra…not a larger cup… something to think about… and too bad if the cancer society says no link… they don’t want there to be one…
So true. I had a dear friend who wore her underwire push-up bras 24/7… because she did not want her perfect breasts to sag. She DIED of BREAST CANCER at age 39!! Her breasts never had a chance to sag. So very sad.
I find it quite interesting that bras are blamed but no skepticism on the whole personal hygiene industry for its role it plays in cancer causing, and producing. I find it rather ironic that the many ingredients in the deodorants and antiperspirants are key factors and known carcinogens but some want to adamantly blame undergarments.
It could potentially be the relationship with improperly fitting undergarments and the strong role that personal hygiene products play on breast cancer. When you think about it this is the one thing that women and men do alike. WE USE DEODORANT….
Look at the ingredients, and see what some of the “side effects” or shall we say “direct effects” of prolonged use of these chemicals.
Everyone wants to ignore the fact that the skin not only eliminates waste but if we prevent our body from eliminating waste via sweating then what would that do? The body would HOLD toxins in.
IF you think, its self explanatory…..bras didn’t do it. Poor/ill fitting bras and…AND harmful personal hygiene products used to deodorize and prevent sweating are the culprit and need all blame.
Let’s point in that direction, because more men are having, being treated and dying from breast cancer and THEY DON’T WEAR BRAS. But they do USE DEODORANT.
cmmmmmm…marinate on that for a minute…
I got rid of my minimiser underwire bras when I read they weren’t healthy last year. I hate the Genie Bras/replacements I wear. They’re not affective; and I can’t walk around without a bra. I wish I had a sense of what may be best. I saw one on TV on an undressed woman in the Ghost Wisperer. It’s no help to call it a Love-Hewitt bra. It looked supportive and I can only wonder.
My wife found some sport-bra types that have an elastic band at the bottom, much like a waist band, and so offer support, but aren’t binding. Perhaps you could look into those.
I met Ed Griffen 25 years ago who wrote “Politics of Cancer” on this being a $$$ industry. He said Cancer could be prevented by B17 which should be dispensed on the table like iodized salt in a shaker. (B17 = Laetrile)
Because of the big cancer industry B17 is illegal in America.
Your followers should know a natural source (apricot kernels) which cannot be legislated out of existence.. Since that time I have been eating these rich in B17 kernels – started with 15 a day to boost my resistance which I did a couple of years and then cut back to maintenance of 5 per day. Now I am growing older I have boosted it again to 10-15 a day.
You can buy apricot kernels very inexpensively at http://www.apricotpower.com They also have bars and other goodies.
More good tips at Picture of Health on Facebook.
Lynn Verhoeff