Busting Myth-Buster Myths: Bras and Cancer According to Google

Breast Cancer

3 pink bras arranged around 2 "Stick it to breast cancer" signsIf you want to see the online censorship of health issues in action, look no further than the link between bras and breast cancer.

Here’s the top result on Google:
“There is no credible research showing a link between wearing, or not wearing, a bra and developing breast cancer. It has been claimed that underwire bras cause breast cancer by obstructing the lymph flow, however, there is no scientific evidence to support this theory.”

Here’s the top result on Bing:
“Internet and e-mail rumors and at least one book have suggested that bras cause breast cancer by obstructing lymph flow. There is no good 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.”

No scientific evidence to support the claim? Absolutely, 100%, incontrovertibly true, in the same way that parrot isn’t dead, it’s just resting. We can safely ignore all of the following research:

  • 1991 Harvard study (CC Hsieh, D Trichopoulos (1991). “Breast size, handedness and breast cancer risk.” European Journal of Cancer and Clinical Oncology 27(2):131-135.). This study found that, “Premenopausal women who do not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared with bra users…”
  • 1991-93 U.S. Bra and Breast Cancer Study by Singer and Grismaijer, published in Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras (Second Edition, Square One Publishers, 2018). Found that bra-free women have about the same incidence of breast cancer as men. 24/7 bra wearing increases incidence over 100 times that of a bra-free woman.
  • Singer and Grismaijer did a follow-up study in Fiji, published in Get It Off! (ISCD Press, 2000). Found 24 case histories of breast cancer in a culture where half the women are bra-free. The women getting breast cancer were all wearing bras. Given women with the same genetics and diet and living in the same village, the ones getting breast disease were the ones wearing bras for work.
  • A 2009 Chinese study (Zhang AQ, Xia JH, Wang Q, Li WP, Xu J, Chen ZY, Yang JM, “Risk factors of breast cancer in women in Guangdong and the countermeasures.” In Chinese. Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao. 2009 Jul;29(7):1451-3.) found that NOT sleeping in a bra was protective against breast cancer, lowering the risk 60%.
  • In 2011 a Venezuelan study by was published in Spanish: Stanovich, M.E.Q.,  Franco, M. et al.,”Patologias mamarias generadas por el uso sostenido y seleccion incorrecta del brassier en pacientes que acuden a la consulta de mastologia,” Revista Electronica de PortalesMedicos.com, 14/10/2011. The study confirmed that bras are causing breast disease and cancer.  It found that underwired and push-up bras are the most harmful, but any bra that leaves red marks or indentations may cause disease.
  • A 2012 study by Yao XY, Ni SS, Zhou J, Hu HY, Li LL, Wan F, Wang YK, Chen YD. entitled “A case-control study on risk factors of female breast cancer in Zhejiang province” was published in Zhejiang Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban (2012 Sep;41(5):512-8. In Chinese. PMID: 23086643) The study found that bras with steel rings (I think this must be Chinglish for an underwire) and sleeping with bra were negatively related to breast cancer.
  • 2015 “Comparative study of breast cancer risk factors at Kenyatta National Hospital and the Nairobi Hospital.” J. Afr. Cancer (2015) 7:41-46.  This study found a significant bra-cancer link in pre-and post-menopausal women.
  • 2016 “Wearing a Tight Bra for Many Hours a Day is Associated with Increased Risk of Breast Cancer.” Adv Oncol Res Treat 1: 105. Based in Brazil, this is the first epidemiological study to look at bra tightness and time worn, and found a significant bra-cancer link.
  • 2016 “Brassiere wearing and breast cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” World J Meta-Anal. Aug 26, 2015; 3(4): 193-205. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the association between 8 areas of brassiere-wearing practices and the risk of breast cancer. Twelve case-control studies met inclusion criteria for review. The meta-analysis shows statistically significant findings to support the association between brassiere wearing during sleep and breast cancer risk.
  • 2018 “Lymph stasis promotes tumor growth.” Journal of Dermatological Science. This confirms that alterations in regional lymphatic flow may produce dysregulation in skin immune function and consequent oncogenesis. Furthermore, lymphedematous areas appear to be immunologically vulnerable sites for the development of neoplasms as well as infections and immune-mediated diseases. In recent years, increasing evidence has confirmed this assumption.
  • 2018 “How Bras Cause Lymph Stasis and Breast Cancer.” Academic.edu. This article discusses recent studies showing that lymph stasis causes cancer by reducing immune function and explains how constriction from tight bras results in lymphatic impairment in the breasts and an increased incidence of breast cancer.
  • 2019  “Wearing Brassiere – A Less Well Known Factor Associated with Breast Cancer in Women.” Nurs Midwifery J 2019, 16(12) 891-901. The findings of this study revealed differences in some behavioral habits of wearing brassieres in women with and without breast cancer. So, in preventive interventions for breast cancer, women’s education should be considered in order to be aware of the proper behavioral habits in wearing brassieres.

However, you don’t need to read the details of all of this stuff. It’s correlation not causation and way too boring. Caring about original source documentation is so last century. Anyway, wasn’t there a study done in 2014 that showed no link between bras and breast cancer? That’s the only the study that comes up on search engines and cancer non-profit organization websites, so it must be the definitive answer to the question. In effect, as far as the bras and breast cancer issue is concerned, this 2014 study acts as, to quote Tolkien, “the one ring to rule them all…in the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.”

A study was conducted by Chen L, Malone KE, Li CI., for the Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Mordor, sorry, I mean Seattle, WA. It was published in the Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention Journal, Sept. 5, 2014. PUBMED ID #25192706. The conclusion is reflected in the title: “Bra wearing not associated with breast cancer risk: a population-based case-control study.” This is the only study I have come across that shows no link between bras and breast cancer, yet it has indeed become “the one ring to rule them all.”

The Hutchinson Study compared postmenopausal women in the Seattle-Puget Sound area with breast cancer to a control group of women of the same age range without breast cancer. I’m not a health professional, just a lowly, anal, old-school BBC-trained journalist. I’m sure Big Pharma will disagree with me, but nevertheless, please forgive me if I dare to mention these flaws I see in that much-publicized 2014 study:

  1. It had no control group of women who did not wear bras to compare to those who did. Having no control group of bra-free women in a study looking at whether bras cause cancer would be like studying the link between cancer and smoking without looking at any nonsmokers to compare to the smokers.
  2. The Hutchinson study, by stating in the Abstract “there is a scarcity of credible scientific studies addressing this issue,” ignores previous research showing a link between bras and breast cancer. One notable example is a Harvard study (CC Hsieh, D Trichopoulos (1991), published in the European Journal of Cancer and Clinical Oncology 27(2):131-135.). It found that “Premenopausal women who do not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared with bra users…” Furthermore, peer-reviewed epidemiological studies published in 2015 and 2016 have shown a significant link between bras and breast cancer.
  3. The Hutchinson Study chose to look at only post-menopausal women when previous research, such as that Harvard study, had shown greater negative effects of bra-wearing in premenopausal women than in postmenopausal women. This is because of survival bias, in that the older ladies had already survived with or without bras, and those who might have died off by then from earlier breast cancers are not included in the study.
  4. Potential conflict of interest: Sydney Ross Singer’s book, “Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras,” second edition, on p.155 reports that “the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center receives money annually from a “Bra Dash” fundraiser, where pink bras are worn on the outside of clothing during a 5K race to raise breast cancer research funds. It would be very ironic to criticize bras for causing cancer when they are used to raise funds for cancer research.”

So are these four points credible criticisms of the esteemed Hutchinson Study? Do the arguments made by researchers Chen, Malone and Li collapse under the weight of my analysis? Nah! To quote Monty Python, my views are just “a mere scratch” on the pristine accuracy and integrity of the 2014 study.

Many would say that cancer is big business, as is the lingerie industry. So I can understand why the mainstream media and medical community might feel just a little threatened by the link between bras and cancer. It’s all about one principle that would make a good Ferengi Rule of Acquisition (I admit it, I’m a Trekkie): “Never let people’s welfare stand in the way of a good profit.”

Ditching your bra is a zero-cost way of reducing your chance of getting cancer. In fact, it actually saves you money, because you don’t need to buy bras. So ladies, consider giving up your bra for a month and see if you notice any benefits. According to the results of the ongoing International Bra-Free Study, IF BREASTS COULD TALK, women report seeing improvements such as getting rid of breast pain (especially during menstruation), backache and headaches as well as having higher self-esteem. If, like me, you’ve managed to escape the social pressure to wear a bra and have freed your boobs from bondage, I have one word to say to you: “Qapla!”