I have always felt that wearing bras particularly tight ones were not healthy. There are so many lymph nodes in the breast, under the arms and at the side of your body near the breast. I have always avoided wearing a bra any more than necessary going back to my teenage years in the 1960's and 1970's. Fortunately for me that was fashionable at the time! While not wearing a bra may result in making your breasts a little bit "saggier" at least you will still have them and you can lower your risk of breast cancer. For those of you who have large breasts and feel you need them for comfort, it would be wise to choose a comfortable sport type bra that is a bit stretchier than the average bra. It may not be as "pretty" but cancer is not so "pretty" either
Many physicians and researchers now agree that wearing a tight fitting bra can cut off lymph drainage, which can contribute to the development of breast cancer, as your body will be less able to excrete all the toxins you are exposed to on a daily basis. Aluminum from antiperspirants, for example, is one potentially dangerous source of toxins that can accumulate if your lymph drainage is impaired
Says Dr. Michael Schacter, M.D. in his article, The Prevention and Complementary Treatment of Breast Cancer:
"Over 85 percent of the lymph fluid flowing from the breast drains to the armpit lymph nodes. Most of the rest drains to the nodes along the breast bone. Bras and other external tight clothing can impede flow.
The nature of the bra, the tightness, and the length of time worn, will all influence the degree of blockage of lymphatic drainage. Thus, wearing a bra might contribute to the development of breast cancer as a result of cutting off lymphatic drainage, so that toxic chemicals are trapped in the breast."
Constricting bras have also been implicated in the rise of benign (non-cancerous) but often painful breast cysts and lumps. Says Dr. John McDougall, M.D., in his book titled The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart:
"After repeated bouts of inflammation, the breasts develop scar tissue in many places, and some of the milk ducts become plugged, forming cysts. Fibrocystic breast disease, not surprisingly, is associated with a higher risk of breast cancer."
You can avoid some of the improper drainage issues if you wear a bra that is properly fitted. But far worse for your health than tight or ill-fitting bras is the most popular type of all -- the underwire bra. It’s important to realize that nearly all underwire bras contain metal under wires, coated with plastic. And it is the metal that could ruin your long-term health.
“These reflexes, like all acupuncture points, follow the Law of Stimulation. In the beginning of stimulating a point, it is stimulated - often causing an increase in associated function. Later on, this continued stimulation causes sedation of that point and a subsequent decrease in its associated function. It's a mechanical thing.
If a woman keeps the metal under wires on top of those reflex points, over time that WILL mess up the functioning of the associated circuits: Liver, gallbladder, and stomach.
Bottom Line: It will likely make her sick; slowly and quietly.”
In addition to that, the metal wire can also act as an antenna attracting electromagnetic fields, which can also increase your risk of breast cancer.
Medical anthropologists Sydney Singer and Soma Grismaijer -- authors of Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras -- conducted a study of over 4,000 women, and found that women who do not wear bras have a much lower risk of breast cancer.
Their findings included:
Women who wore their bras 24 hours per day had a 3 out of 4 chance of developing breast cancer
Women who wore bras more than 12 hour per day, but not to bed, had a 1 out of 7 risk
Women who wore their bras less than 12 hours per day had a 1 out of 52 risk
Women who wore bras rarely or never had a 1 out of 168 chance of getting breast cancer
The overall difference between women who wore their bras 24-hours a day and those who did not wear bras at all was a 125-fold difference. Based on the results of this study, the link between bras and breast cancer is about three times greater than the link between cigarette smoking and cancer.
Singer and Grismaijer also found that about 90 percent of fibrocystic patients improve when they quit wearing bras.
One 1991 study, published in the European Journal of Cancer, found that premenopausal women who did not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared with bra users.
Wearing metal on your body is something you generally want to avoid, and since many women wear their bras for the better part of the day, it would be sensible to find a healthier alternative to your metal underwire bras. If you feel you need the underwire, please consider switching out the metal wire in your favorite bra for a plastic wire. You may be able to find them in your local fabric store, or you can purchase them online.
Simply replacing your metal underwires with plastic ones are your best alternative solution if you don’t want to forego the underwire entirely.
You can easily do this on your own simply by snipping a tiny hole in the fabric at the end of the underwire, on the inside of your bra. Slide the old wire out and replace it with the plastic wire, which can easily be cut to the correct length to fit. Then throw a few stitches across the hole to keep the wire from sliding out of the casing.
BraMakersSupply.com is one of the few companies that carry the whole range of plastic wire sizes and ship across the world. And at $2 per pair, protecting your long-term health couldn't be much more affordable.
