Borrowed
from www.susunweed.com
A few highlights of the history of research
on
bras and breast
disease:
1. In
the 1930s a paper was published making a
connection between corsets and increased breast
cancer rates.
2.
1978 An M.D. in California pubished an article in
a medical journal linking bras with elevated breast
temperature, and he suggested that this might have a connection with breast cancer.
He studied several hundred women in a medical practice and also
observed that the heavier the bra material, the hotter the breast,
and that bra-free
women of all sizes had cooler breasts. (The Lancet, November 4, 1978,
P. 1001 Dr. John M. Douglass, Department of Internal Medicine, S.
Calif. Permanente Med. Center Los Angeles, California) see also item #8
for more about breast temperature.
3.
1991 Researchers at Harvard University publish a
medical journal article on breast cancer
risk. As a side issue of their paper, they mention that the women in
their study
that did not wear bras had a 60% lower rate of breast
cancer
than the women who wore bras. (Hsieh, C.C. and D. Trichopoulos, D. Eur.
J. Cancer
27:131-5, 1991 "Breast
size, handedness and breast cancer
risk")
4.
1991 Researchers in Japan pubished a study
on bras and sagging, in which they proved that a bra
can actually increase breast
sagging, rather than the opposite. This effect was most noticeable in
larger breasted
women. They compared bras to foot binding in their discussion section.
("Breast
Form Changes Resulting From A Certain Brassiere" Journal of Hum.
Ergol.(Tokyo) 1990 Jun; 19(1):53-62. Ashizawa K, Sugane A, Gunji T
Institute of Human Living Sciences, Otsuma Women's University, Tokyo,
Japan)
5.
1995 Sydney Singer and Soma Grismaijer of the
Institute for the Study of Culturogenic Disease published
their book, "Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast
Cancer
and Bras," (Avery Press). Their study
included almost 4600 women, half of whom had breast
cancer
and half of whom did not. They found that the more hours per day that a
bra is
worn, the higher the rate of breast cancer
and that women who do not wear bras have a dramatically reduced rate of
breast cancer.
Singer and Grismaijer havea website at: http://www.selfstudycenter.org/
6.
1995 through the present. Many women, who had
concerns about breast cancer
risk and/or breast
pain, quit wearing bras and then found that their pain and cysts of
fibrocystic breast
disease was dramatically
decreased or eliminated. Several of these women wrote their own
personal case histories, which appear on the web at: http://www.all-natural.com/fibrocys.html
7. May
1999. A landmark study
was published in the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet.
This study
showed that pre-menopausal women with fibrocystic breast
disease have an almost 6-fold higher risk of future breast cancer.
This study
firmly refutes the advice of some doctors who have said that
fibrocystic carries no increased risk. In all, there are now over 30
published medical and scientific research articles showing a connection
between fibrocystic and increased breast cancer
risk. (Lancet 1999 May 22;353(9166):1742-5 "Risk of breast cancer in women with palpable breast
cysts: a prospective study."
Edinburgh Breast
Group. Dixon JM, McDonald C, Elton RA, Miller WR Edinburgh Breast
Unit, Western General Hospital, UK.")
8.
2000.
Two
British
breast
surgeons conduct clinical trials at two breast
clinics in England and Wales. They study
100 women to see if going brafree (a more positive term the physicians
used for braless) could
lessen
breast
pain. Their study
concluded that the majority of pre-menopausal women found decreased
pain during a three-month bra-free study
period. The women were instructed to not wear a bra
for three months, and instead to wear a loose and non-restricting
camisole if they desired an alternative undergarment. For comparison,
they then returned to wearing bras for the another three months. For
additional study
control,
another
group
of
women did the reverse and were bra-wearers
for three months, then bra-free
for three months. A half-hour documentary was filmed in conjunction
with the studies and was shown on nationwide television in England in
November, 2000 on Channel 4 UK. Several of the women were interviewed
and discussed the life-altering improvements in their breast health, such as
being able to now pick up their children or hug their spouse without
pain. (Simon Cawthorne, M.D. surgeon at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol,
England and Prof. Robert Mansel, M.D., Surgery Dept. Head, University
of Wales Medical School, Cardif, Wales.) Doctors interviewed in the
film commented about how breasts in bras are hotter than bra-free
breasts
and
the
possible connection of this breast
heating with breast cancer.
Prof.
Hugh
Simpson
discussed his published research, which has
previously proven that pre-cancerous and cancerous breasts are both
hotter than normal breasts. The documentary included video thermography
of women with and without bras, proving that bras cause localized
heating of breast
tissue.
9. 2000. A group of researchers in Japan published
their studies showing that wearing a girdle and bra lowers the levels of the hormone
melatonin by 60 percent. (Chronobiol Int 2000 Nov;17(6):783-93 "The
effects of skin pressure by clothing on circadian rhythms of core
temperature and salivary melatonin." Lee YA, Hyun KJ, Tokura H,
Department of Environmental Health, Nara Women's University, Japan.)
Melatonin is intimately involved with sleep cycles and is used to
prevent jet-lag. Numerous published studies have suggested that
melatonin has anti-cancer
activities, that it is an antioxidant and can prevent DNA
damage, and that it is intimately involved in the immune system and can
bind directly to T helper cells. Researchers in Spain have published an
article outlining the possible use of melatonin in breast cancer
prevention and treatment (Histol Histopathol 2000 Apr;15(2):637-47).
Recent research (J. Hansen, "Light at Night, Shiftwork, and Breast Cancer
Risk" J Natl Cancer Inst 2001; 93:
1513-1515) has shown that
nighttime exposure to light is associated with increased rates of breast cancer. This builds
upon previous research that showed that light at night suppresses
melatonin production.
10. December 2000. A medical doctor published his
findings on shoulder pain treatment in women with large breasts. In
this five-year study, it was
suggested that patients remove the weight from their shoulders for a
period of two weeks, either by going braless or by wearing a strapless bra.
Only one woman
chose a strapless bra
and all the others went braless. quoting the article, "Long-term
outcome was presence or absence of muscle pain and tenderness.
Seventy-nine percent of patients decided to remove breast weight from the
shoulder permanently because it rendered them symptom free." (Ryan, EL,
Clin J Pain 2000 Dec;16(4):298-303, "Pectoral girdle myalgia in women:
a 5-year study in a clinical
setting.")
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Using Herbs Safely from Breast Cancer?
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My Anti-Cancer
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