Bras and Breast Cancer

Has anyone heard this before? I've been doing a little research on breast cancer (my SIL was just diagnosed ). Apparently, there was a study done by someone named Singer making a connection between the constricting properties of bras and breast cancer. FTR, the American Cancer Society does not support this study, saying it was not epidemiologically (sp?) structured and so the results do not conform to scientific method. Still, why isn't anyone *doing* the epidemiological study?!

This theory makes a lot of sense to me. The breasts as lymphatic organs requiring movement and not constriction makes sense. In the study, the correlation between hours spent in a bra and incidence of breast cancer was startling. It's enough to compell me to at least spend the least amount of time necessary in a structured bra.

[allisonintx]

there is a lot more to breast cancer than the clothing you wear. Women have been binding their breasts in all manner of ways since the dawn of clothing, and pre-menopausal breast cancer only began to boom when women stopped breastfeeding. I'd be much more concerned about any of it, if the studies took that into account as well.

[Bonnie]

I've heard about it, and honestly didn't give it much credence...until I paid attention to the incidence of clogged ducts and mastitis in prone individuals wearing underwires. The connection with the lymph system may well be significant. I just don't know.

[SansSouci]

Though I haven't heard of it, I do find that interesting.

Breast cancer runs in my family, and I'm doing my best to prevent it myself by living a healthy lifestyle.

[Herbwifemama]

This is why I don't wear a bra. I've never had really bad breast issues, but I would get swollen lymph nodes under my arms around my period time- it stopped when I stopped wearing a bra. I definitely think bras can cause lymph constriction which can cause all sorts of problems- cancer? Possibly- there are lots of reasons one can get cancer though- aluminum in deodorants, poor dietary habits, poor lifestyle habits- wearing a bra is just one more thing I can do to eliminate my risk- though I am inclined to think that breastfeeding does a lot more to eliminate my risk.

A couple of links:
http://www.all-natural.com/fibrocys.html (This is about fibrocystic breasts, which I think not wearing bras actually has a lot more effect on)

http://www. susunweed.com/An_Article_Bra-disease.htm

edited by LisaM per posting rule #18

[allisonintx]

Do not trust anything that you read from Susun Weed. I've written diatribe after diatribe about her shoddy, contradictory, ill supported work, her satanic views, and her campaign for lesbianism as the only natural course of action for women over 40. I wish she had never been published. I've spent so much time un-doing the learning women get from her stuff, because it's just wrong...sigh...

[tempus vernum]

I know very little of Susan Weed; BUT I am concerned about her information as I am aware of her ideas about Magic, Satanism and the like

That said, I have heard UNDERWIRES specifically constrict the lymph system. Because of the placement of the end of the wire toward your arm pit. As in, the end actually presses into your lymph node there I have heard it doesn't give your breast lymphatic system the ability to drain properly and can cause lymph back up.

However, I actually realized typing this that my information is based solely on the oncologist that performed my g-ma's mastectomy (spelling). He gave her a small list of things to avoid - under wire bras, antiperspirants and aluminum in underarm deodorant. And I think something else I can't remember I think at that point, almost all the women in my family went to deodorant that doesn't contain aluminum.

I have also heard that any constriction your clothing/bra does that isn't healthy can be "undone" by rebounding braless I was doing that for awhile But as I have replaced my bras, I have just started buying ones that have no underwire I figure it doesn't hurt to use a different bra although it's a bit more work to find

[scottishthistle]

I've read antiperspirants (sp?) play a big role too

[Herbwifemama]

Originally Posted by Allison In TX

Do not trust anything that you read from Susun Weed. I've written diatribe after diatribe about her shoddy, contradictory, ill supported work, her satanic views, and her campaign for lesbianism as the only natural course of action for women over 40. I wish she had never been published. I've spent so much time un-doing the learning women get from her stuff, because it's just wrong...sigh...

I've read your stuff about SW before, and I agree with your views on her religious beliefs, but I find her herbal stuff unoffensive.

[scottishthistle]

Originally Posted by MessianicMama

I've read your stuff about SW before, and I agree with your views on her religious beliefs, but I find her herbal stuff unoffensive.

I agree

[allisonintx]

her herbal stuff may seem unoffensive, but it is often contradictory, and is ill still ill supported. You'd do better with the books from Prescription for Nutritional Healing, and Prescription for Herbal Healing. It has good information that is well supported by both tradition and studies.

[Herbwifemama]

We used those books when I worked at GNC for reference. You're right, they're great books.

I think that when you're working with herbs, it's important to read from as many different herbalists as possible. Each one has different experiences. I've read Jeannine Parvati Baker's Hygeia, and frankly, that book scares me. Too many dangerous herbs, note enough information. I've read all of Susun Weed's books, and they make sense to me. I've read most of Shonda Parker's books, and the same. It's important to try out the suggestions with caution when you're dealing with herbs, because herbs react slightly differently in each person's body- and some people who write herb books don't put warnings about certain herbs, so it's especially important to corroborate suggestions when you try them for the first time. I think this is one area where we'll have to agree to disgaree.

[hopeforchange]

i used to go bra free for this reason. but i'm a 34G and while BF dd, i leaked until she was prolly 18 months, so i had to wear a bra and nursing pads. also, i started wearing underwires b/c they were the only bras i could find in my size without ordering online. after ordering several bras online that didn't fit i finally gave up and just got what i could find. plus, at my size, i look a little funny without a bra

i would love to at least get back into a bra without underwires.

i used to go bra free for this reason. but i'm a 34G and while BF dd, i leaked until she was prolly 18 months, so i had to wear a bra and nursing pads. also, i started wearing underwires b/c they were the only bras i could find in my size without ordering online. after ordering several bras online that didn't fit i finally gave up and just got what i could find. plus, at my size, i look a little funny without a bra

Yes, I can imagine that large breasts would make non-bra wearing fairly unfeasible. It might be the first time I've ever been at an advantage with my breasts-the-size-of-the-average-12-year-old.

[Herbwifemama]

No, it doesn't. I have 36 DD+ (I don't know my actual size, because my largest bra doesn't fit ) breasts and I look fine. I look like a woman with large breasts, but I have several friends who have large breasts and go braless, and I've never thought they looked odd, and I"m sure they aren't in pain, otherwise I imagine they'd stop. I'm not in pain either.