But cancer researcher Philippa Darbre, PhD, of the University of Reading in England, sees it differently. She says the evidence is mounting that the aluminum-based active ingredient in antiperspirants can mimic estrogen in the body.
"Lifetime exposure to estrogen is the risk factor which is tied most strongly to breast cancer," Darbre tells WebMD. "If the aluminum salts in antiperspirants enter the body and mimic estrogen it stands to reason that constant exposure over many years may pose a risk."
Risks Of Aluminum Exposure?
Aluminum salts are the active ingredient in the vast majority of antiperspirants, and antiperspirants are a major source of exposure to aluminum in humans.
Products labeled as deodorants alone may not have aluminum, but the vast majority of commercially available antiperspirants do contain aluminum salts. They make up as much as a quarter of the volume of some antiperspirants.
Darbre says her own cellular research shows that aluminum salt exposure can influence estrogen activity. Because antiperspirants are used so closely to the breast, and are often used by women directly after shaving — which might allow for easier absorption — she says it is reasonable to question whether antiperspirant exposure could influence breast cancer risk.
She adds that women should consider cutting down on their antiperspirant use or cutting them out entirely.
"If a product is labeled antiperspirant it probably contains aluminum salts," she says. "I stopped using these products eight years ago, and now I wonder why I ever bothered. Soap and water and maybe a little talcum powder seem to do the job nicely."
Links between aluminum based deoderant and breast cancer are controversial
The aluminum most often associated with breast cancer concerns is the kind used in the manufacture of cosmetics and underarm deodorant. Early studies on aluminum based deodorant suggested a link between its use and an increase in breast cancer diagnoses. However, a thorough examination of the subject reveals a much more complicated and inconclusive issue.
Estrogen and Breast Cancer
Estrogen is a hormone produced inside the female body in areas such as the uterus, breast tissue and ducts. Studies show that estrogen has an effect on cancer cells. Frustratingly, it has been shown to both aid and slow cancer growth. Some scientists believe the only constant is that interfering with estrogen's natural processes can trigger cancer.
Aluminum and Estrogen
Aluminum is used in cosmetics and deodorant to stopsweat secretion. Some studies indicate that aluminum interferes with the natural processes of estrogen. According to researcher Philippa Darbre, PhD, of the University of Reading, aluminum mimics estrogen, confusing the body and increasing the likelihood of cancer, particularly in the breast area.
Link Still Unproven
Even Darbre, who is one of the leading proponents of the aluminum/breast cancer connection, admits that her findings are inconclusive. Though she believes her research shows a link between aluminum in deodorant and breast cancer, other studies refute this link. Darbre is herself unsure whether the aluminum content of the deodorant or other environmental factors are to blame for an increase in cancer cases.
Cancer Organizations Refute Claim
Both the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society have publicly stated their position that there is no solid evidence to connect the use of aluminum based underarm deodorant with cancer. Many recent studies, including one done in 2002 with a sample of 1,606 women, have failed to identify any provable link.
The Future
Both sides of the aluminum/breast cancer debate agree that more research is needed. A large, ten-year study, launched in 2004, is anticipated to reveal some of the most conclusive research ever gathered regarding environmental triggers and breast cancer. Until then, the majority of the medical community believes women shouldn't worry about altering their cosmetics and deodorant consumption. Options however, of non-aluminum based hygiene products are available for women who are still concerned.
http://healthinmotion.wordpress.com/category/antiperspirants/
Excerpts:
1) So in summary, Westernized women are applying chemical compounds in antiperspirants/deodorants on the skin daily over decades. These compounds have not been studied long term with respect to skin absorption and possible toxicity. Skin transport is an FDA approved delivery system for many well studied drugs. The under arms are located in the upper extremities which by research is the most efficient site for skin delivered drugs. The breasts and the underarms are directly linked by the skin and lymphatic system. This antiperspirant/deodorant exposure occurs daily over decades, likely facilitated by underarm shaving. Interesting when the incidence of breast cancer since the 1940’s is plotted against the same time period of antiperspirant/deodorant sales, an eerie parallel is seen.
2)
Editors Comment: The article linked to below from www.controlyourimpact.com highlights an important point: We have become so dependent on chemicals, we no longer question their safety in relation to our body. We trust manufacturres and governmental oversight bodies to keep us safe, but fail to take into account that enormous component of the human spirit – greed. Please read the article below (featured in Time magazine) to get a better understanding of the adverse relationship between chemicals and your skin.
Dr. Paz, what are some of the things women can do to keep their breasts healthy?
‘Avoid underwire bras and make sure the bras you buy fit properly. The lymphatic system is the body’s vacuum cleaner,’ says Dr. Paz. ‘The wrong size bra interferes with lymphatic tissue.’ So, it’s important to see an expert, get measured and get the right fitting bra. How does the lymphatic system wrok?
Its main purpose is to filter out disease-causing organisms. It also produces certain white blood cells (wonderful cells that fight disease) and antibodies. These antibodies neutralize bacteria. Our lymphatic system also controls fluid and nutrient distribution throughout the body. Lymph nodes, tiny, oval structures primarily located in the neck, groin and armpits, produce lympohcytes. Their main function is to defend the body against microorganisms and foreign particles. That's why things like underwire bras and aluminum (discussed in detail below) could constrain the area under the armpit and interfere with this vital filtering process.
http://www.distance-healer.com/83.html
Excerpt:
(Note: Please see other cancer pages on this site for additional breast and general cancer information.) I would also see Ingrid Naiman's book, Cancer Salves: A Botanical Approach to Treatment ( http://www.amazon.com/Cancer-Salves-Botanical-Approach-Treatment/dp/1882834151), which shows describes many cures of breast, skin, pancreatic, liver and skin cancers by the use of cancer salves. Is Your Bra Killing You? (The Link between Bras and Breast Cancer)
In a study involving 4,700 women, those who never wore a bra had the same incidence of breast cancer as men, in whom cancer of the breast is a rare condition.
Women who wore bras for more than 12 hours, but did not sleep in them, had 21 times the risk as women who wore a bra for less than 12 hours. Put in a slightly different way, the statistics are just as chilling: Women who war a bra 24 hours a day are 125 times as likely to develop cancer as women who don’t.
Medical anthropologist, Sydney Ross Singer, made this bra/breast cancer claim in the mid-1990’s, but was simply laughed at by the so-called “experts.” But with the new study involving 4,700 women demonstrating such dramatic results, Singer may get the last laugh. It is postulated that lymphatic vessels are blocked by the bra, thus preventing lymphocytes (white blood cells) from destroying abnormal cells. This blockage, over a period of years, presumably causes a build-up of cancer cells which eventually overwhelms the body’s defense mechanisms, and cancer ensues. (Another consideration is that a much higher level of hormones tends to collect in the breasts, and wearing a bra for too many hours blocks the movement of these hormones out of the breasts – this is also why breast massage is recommended, especially soon after removing the bra, to reduce the high level of cancer-causing hormones.)
From Professor Singer’s research, it would appear that wearing a bra for less than 12 hours a day would be prudent.
Make sure your bra is not constricting the lymphatic system. If, when you remove the bra, there are grooves in your skin or red lines where the bra was, you are asking for trouble.
The worst thing you can do is to wear your bra to bed – Dr. Singer’s number one admonition is: “Do not wear a bra to sleep!”
In the 1890s, mail-order "bust girdle" advertisements were discreetly hidden in the back pages of women's magazines; by 1918, bras were a major staple of the fashion industry, with 52 different brands prominently displayed in department stores. In this good-humored yet careful examination of mainstream print advertisements and bra-industry publications such as the Corset and Underwear Review, Farrell-Beck, a professor of textiles and clothing at Iowa State University's College of Family and Consumer Sciences, and Gau, president of a home-based textile-conservation business, illuminate women's experience of this most everyday, functional yet still titillating and even scandalous garment. Less a history of the bra than a study of its relationship to history, the book traces public perception of the bra's foremost function: originally conceived as a garment meant to promote women's health, it came to be seen as one meant to improve their appearance. Bra design, the authors demonstrate, shifted endlessly in response to such factors as wartime rationing, the increasing number of women in sports and, of course, the feminist movement of the 1960s and '70s. Many of Farrell-Beck and Gau's discoveries are surprising: Who knew that the U.S. government commissioned Maidenform to design a vest for carrier pigeons during WWII or that one enterprising manufacturer marketed a bra with a tiny, zippered pocket intended to hold money? The 51 b&w illustrations add to the entertainment value of this fun, punchy book. (Dec.)Forecast: Uplift will appeal primarily to women's studies and pop culture scholars, and readers interested in the history of fashion. A word to the wise: don't confuse this work with another recent one sporting a similar title, Uplift: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors.
Uplift: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors
By Barbara Delinsky
Where was I when I learned that I had breast cancer? You may as well ask where I was when I learned that JFK had been shot. I will never forget either answer.
In the case of JFK, I was in college, returning to my dormitory after class to find the television on in the dorm living room and my friends gathered around it. I remember feeling total disbelief -- that what had happened couldn't be so. It had nothing to do with political affiliation and everything to do with youth, vigor, and Camelot.
In the case of breast cancer, I felt no disbelief. I was working out in the basement of our home when my surgeon called to say that the results of my biopsy were in and that the tiny little granules she had removed from my breast were malignant. She told you that on the phone? Indeed, she did. It was just the right thing for me, and she knew it. She and I had been through biopsies together before. She knew that my mother had had breast cancer and that I'd been expecting it. She knew that the best approach to take with me would be the understated one. What she actually said was, "You've spent a lifetime waiting for the other shoe to fall, and now that it has, it's a very small shoe. The cure rate for this is ninety-nine-point-five percent. Here is what I recommend . . ."
I listened. Then I hung up the phone and called my husband. Then I finished working out. In doing that, I was showing myself that I was healthy and strong, cancer and all. I needed to minimize the impact of what I'd learned...because just as a certain idealism had been lost when JFK was shot, so I knew that with a diagnosis of breast cancer, a part of my life was forever changed.
I was shaky as I climbed back up the stairs -- and what had me most frightened wasn't the prospect of having a re-excision and radiation. It was phoning our three sons, who were in three different states, in college and law school at the time. I went about making dinner, a crucial same-old same-old, as I put through those calls, and as I talked with each son I had the first of many cancer experiences that weren't nearly as bad as I'd imagined. "Curable" was the word I stressed. My confidence was contagious. Making Decisions
"When I was first diagnosed, I knew pretty much nothing about breast cancer -- except that I didn't want it! By learning everything I could, I started to calm down, sort things out, and actively make decisions. Knowledge is power. It definitely makes you feel a little bit more in control of your life."
Deborah Lambert; diagnosed in 2000 at age 47;
medical secretary; Massachusetts
Ah, but you are correct, sir, and let me tell you why. A bitch is a difficult woman. According to Margaret Cho, one of my favorite bitches, a bitch is assertive, unapologetic, demanding, intimidating, intelligent, fiercely protective and in control. That's why one of the best feminist magazines around is called Bitch.
Who's usually a bitch? The chick that's not interested in you. The girl that got a higher grade than you. The woman manager that tells you what to do. And don't forget the female journalist that calls you out.
That's right, Matt Ralston. We're all a bunch of bitches. The word has been reclaimed. It functions more like a compliment. Thanks for recognizing feminists are women who dare to be dominant.
We don't shy away from confrontation. We'll get in your face. And we don't back down.
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