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
published 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.
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: https://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.")
Breast Cancer? Breast Health!
The Wise Woman Way
by Susun S. Weed
Foreword by Christiane Northrup, MD
380 pages, index, profusely illustrated.
Foods, exercises, and attitudes to keep
your breasts healthy. Supportive
complimentary medicines to ease
side-effects of surgery, radiation,
chemotherapy, or tamoxifen.
Retails for $14.95
Read some excerpts:
Mammograms - Who Needs
Them? from Breast
Cancer? Breast
Health!
Using Herbs Safely from Breast Cancer? Breast
Health!
My Anti-Cancer Lifestyle from Breast Cancer? Breast Health!
Order BREAST CANCER? BREAST
HEALTH! at this link
What a gift to women
of all ages! This book helped me
overcome my fear of what I might
discover during self-examination. I am
so grateful that this book came my way
and I am healthier in mind, body, and
spirit thanks to Ms. Weed's wise words!
If I could, I would give a copy of this
book to every woman in the world!
You May Also Like: