Harshvardan, I don't think they meant it to be the penultimate findings on bras and possible correlations with increased occurrences of breast cancer. My mum found the article and I posted it here as I thought others might know more about this stuff or find it interesting/important.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->How come anyone can make such serious suggestions with such an small sample size and that too from a <b>small geographical areas</b>?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->In the west they have been using bras for longer. I'd think the bra-usage in the UK was a good representative of Europe and America.
In other countries bras have only been catching up with the masses in the last decades. The native population where I live has only been wearing bras uniformly for the last two generations (some of their grandmothers still refuse to). So it won't make sense for instance, to get their data in there, if prolonged and prolific use of bras and correlation with pain is what people are initially trying to establish. Also, different ethnicities might already be more prone/less prone to different forms of cancer and that may skew results, too, unless samples are grouped by ethnicity and considered group-wise.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Besides the pain data, the doctors also showed video thermography footage that dramatically demonstrated the <b>heat build-up</b> from bra wearing, and they discussed the possible connections with cancer causation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Well they seems to suggest that heat is one of the causes of cancer which IMHO is incorrect. If heat is really the cause of cancer then people living in tropics which have high temp than say in britain must also have an correspondingly high rate of cancer in the population, which is not the case.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I think you've misunderstood what it is they've implied there. I think it's the pressure of maybe tight-fitting bras that causes heat build-up that they're referring to in this instance. Women in the tropics used to go bra-free and in some places women went topless for long periods of time. So they're not comparing climates but about localised temperature in one area of the body.
(Also, from what I remember from bio, breasts in women are part of the temperature regulating area: they're warmer when the person is cold, and colder when the person is warm or something. The secondary sexual organs in men also play a similar role. But my bio is hazy, don't quote me on that.)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Besides the pain data, the doctors also showed video thermography footage that dramatically demonstrated the <b>heat build-up</b> from bra wearing, and they discussed the possible connections with cancer causation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->If at all they're trying to link the heat they mention here with the second part of that sentence on "possible connections with cancer causation" (it's not clear that they are), then I think it might be heat build-up due to the more restrictive items (ones that might not be letting the circulation go its natural course or something) that they consider might be an additional factor in the occurrence of breast cancer.
In any case, the British study seems to be more about the relationship between bras and constant pain (and occurrence of cysts). And the second study mentioned (the French uni one) about constant pain often being a factor in exacerbating the chances of cancer and what that might say about bras. The PubMed paper appears to be about the correlation between (bra-)size and chances of breast cancer but makes some inferences about what the data says about not wearing bras versus wearing bras.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Interesting finding which nullify their previous assertion that bras are the possible reason for breast cancer. Their finding that 'Post-menopausal women did not benefit as much from not wearing a bra' clearly shows that hormonal imbalances may be the factor that may be causing cancer rather an wearing an inner garment.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Perhaps pre-/post-menopausal hormonal changes or changes in circulation might either negate contribution of wearing bras, who knows. The PubMed article merely noted that there was a difference between pre and post with respect to bra-wearing and cancer; the abstract does not attribute cancer to bras.
The British study did suggest that this prelimary test be a cause for more study:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->On average, for pre-menopausal women, they found that the number of totally pain-free days went up by 7% which is regarded as significant for a problem that is otherwise so hard to treat. They are confident that this research warrants further investigation into the links between bra wearing and breast pain and cysts.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Obesity caused by an sedentary lifestyle is indeed identified as one the factors of found to be causing cancer.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->and<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Check the dates of the studies, one was conducted in the year 1991 and another in 2000. After so many years, up until the year 2008 they have not yet found an correlation between the wearing of a bra and an increase in breast cancer. If there was any serious danger associated with wearing bras there would have been health advisory by respective national medical association like in the case of banning smoking in public which puts the non-smoking persons in public places to the risk of cancer due to secondary inhalation of cigarette smoke.
If there is an large scale study conducted and any scientific proof is found of the correlation between wearing bras and breast cancer then i may change my opinion but until then i dont believe this so called 'scientific study'.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->(Which of the three studies are you referring to...) I can't see that they're saying that bras are <i>causing</i> breast cancer at all. Rather, that it may be an indirectly contributing factor in situations giving rise to or exacerbating occurrence of this cancer (the French study is described as considering 'increased risk'). There are many factors that cause cancer and some have been identified, others may not yet have been. Perhaps frequent and continuous usage of ultra-tight bras are questionable at least where cyst formation is concerned (and more certainly, with respect to pain).
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->How come anyone can make such serious suggestions with such an small sample size and that too from a <b>small geographical areas</b>?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->In the west they have been using bras for longer. I'd think the bra-usage in the UK was a good representative of Europe and America.
In other countries bras have only been catching up with the masses in the last decades. The native population where I live has only been wearing bras uniformly for the last two generations (some of their grandmothers still refuse to). So it won't make sense for instance, to get their data in there, if prolonged and prolific use of bras and correlation with pain is what people are initially trying to establish. Also, different ethnicities might already be more prone/less prone to different forms of cancer and that may skew results, too, unless samples are grouped by ethnicity and considered group-wise.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Besides the pain data, the doctors also showed video thermography footage that dramatically demonstrated the <b>heat build-up</b> from bra wearing, and they discussed the possible connections with cancer causation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Well they seems to suggest that heat is one of the causes of cancer which IMHO is incorrect. If heat is really the cause of cancer then people living in tropics which have high temp than say in britain must also have an correspondingly high rate of cancer in the population, which is not the case.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I think you've misunderstood what it is they've implied there. I think it's the pressure of maybe tight-fitting bras that causes heat build-up that they're referring to in this instance. Women in the tropics used to go bra-free and in some places women went topless for long periods of time. So they're not comparing climates but about localised temperature in one area of the body.
(Also, from what I remember from bio, breasts in women are part of the temperature regulating area: they're warmer when the person is cold, and colder when the person is warm or something. The secondary sexual organs in men also play a similar role. But my bio is hazy, don't quote me on that.)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Besides the pain data, the doctors also showed video thermography footage that dramatically demonstrated the <b>heat build-up</b> from bra wearing, and they discussed the possible connections with cancer causation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->If at all they're trying to link the heat they mention here with the second part of that sentence on "possible connections with cancer causation" (it's not clear that they are), then I think it might be heat build-up due to the more restrictive items (ones that might not be letting the circulation go its natural course or something) that they consider might be an additional factor in the occurrence of breast cancer.
In any case, the British study seems to be more about the relationship between bras and constant pain (and occurrence of cysts). And the second study mentioned (the French uni one) about constant pain often being a factor in exacerbating the chances of cancer and what that might say about bras. The PubMed paper appears to be about the correlation between (bra-)size and chances of breast cancer but makes some inferences about what the data says about not wearing bras versus wearing bras.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Interesting finding which nullify their previous assertion that bras are the possible reason for breast cancer. Their finding that 'Post-menopausal women did not benefit as much from not wearing a bra' clearly shows that hormonal imbalances may be the factor that may be causing cancer rather an wearing an inner garment.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Perhaps pre-/post-menopausal hormonal changes or changes in circulation might either negate contribution of wearing bras, who knows. The PubMed article merely noted that there was a difference between pre and post with respect to bra-wearing and cancer; the abstract does not attribute cancer to bras.
The British study did suggest that this prelimary test be a cause for more study:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->On average, for pre-menopausal women, they found that the number of totally pain-free days went up by 7% which is regarded as significant for a problem that is otherwise so hard to treat. They are confident that this research warrants further investigation into the links between bra wearing and breast pain and cysts.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Obesity caused by an sedentary lifestyle is indeed identified as one the factors of found to be causing cancer.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->and<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Check the dates of the studies, one was conducted in the year 1991 and another in 2000. After so many years, up until the year 2008 they have not yet found an correlation between the wearing of a bra and an increase in breast cancer. If there was any serious danger associated with wearing bras there would have been health advisory by respective national medical association like in the case of banning smoking in public which puts the non-smoking persons in public places to the risk of cancer due to secondary inhalation of cigarette smoke.
If there is an large scale study conducted and any scientific proof is found of the correlation between wearing bras and breast cancer then i may change my opinion but until then i dont believe this so called 'scientific study'.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->(Which of the three studies are you referring to...) I can't see that they're saying that bras are <i>causing</i> breast cancer at all. Rather, that it may be an indirectly contributing factor in situations giving rise to or exacerbating occurrence of this cancer (the French study is described as considering 'increased risk'). There are many factors that cause cancer and some have been identified, others may not yet have been. Perhaps frequent and continuous usage of ultra-tight bras are questionable at least where cyst formation is concerned (and more certainly, with respect to pain).
Death to traitors.