Bras Don't Cause Breast Cancer

Anatomy of Medical Myth

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“Bras cause breast cancer” is the vampire of medical myths: ancient, easily resurrected, and hard to kill. And unfortunately, it’s recently been resurrected on Instagram.

After I did a short video explaining how baseless and cruel it is to claim that bras cause breast cancer, several women thanked me because they’d heard and believed it. So, I decided it was time to write about it again (the last time was in 2015 on my now-defunct blog), and I want to walk you through it from its genesis so you can see how easy it is to get something like this going if you are willing to fan the flames. Propaganda works, and fear sells, so together, they really are an unholy mix.  

The video that got me riled up is from an account with over 94,000 followers, so this is someone leveraging their social media following for evil because, in my opinion, telling women that bras cause breast cancer is evil. The gloves are off. Here is a screenshot from the video. The pink type is my warning not to believe the part of the original video that I stitched to my own. 

When I first saw it, I sighed a deep, visceral sigh because the first text on the video, “‘Women who wore their bras 24 hours a day had a 3 out of 4 chance of developing breast cancer,” told me the source of this steaming pile of disinformation…the book “Dressed to Kill, written by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer, which was published in 1995. The quotes are instantly recognizable if you have been debunking as long as I have.

Singer and Grismaijer are anthropologists, although, in his bio, Singer states he completed three years of medical school to become a “medically trained anthropologist.” How Singer and Grismaijer came to believe that bras cause breast cancer is…something. Apparently, Grismaijer found a breast lump during pregnancy. This lump was apparently never biopsied, but somehow, they believed it was malignant…and it went away when she stopped wearing a bra. This resolution of an un-biopsied lump that was almost certainly benign led to a study of almost 5,000 women that was not blinded and did not control for known risk factors for breast cancer, and yet somehow allowed them to conclude bras were a cause of breast cancer. This study was also not published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. I am sure you are simply shocked at that reveal. Shocked.

In addition to a disappearing breast lump and an unpublished study, the bras cause breast cancer aficionados often tout a study published in the European Journal of Cancer in 1991 by Hsieh et al., which was designed to look at bra cup size and breast cancer risk, using cup size as a marker for breast size. The researchers wondered if breast size might be an independent risk factor for breast cancer. (As many women aren’t wearing the correct size bra, it’s hard to see how cup size would be a reliable metric, but that’s not really the point here). Regardless, the researchers found no statistically significant link between wearing a bra and breast cancer. There was an association between breast cancer risk and larger cup size for women after menopause, but this risk was believed to be due to obesity, which is a risk factor for breast cancer after menopause. The takeaway is this 1991 study doesn’t support the claim that bras cause breast cancer. 

How do bras cause breast cancer? So glad you asked. 

Bras apparently obstruct lymphatic flow, allowing “toxins” to accumulate. But bras don’t compress lymphatic fluid in any meaningful way. I am left wondering if anyone who believes this hypothesis has ever seen a bra. Honestly, it’s laughable. I just don’t have any other words for it. 

Could the moon be made from cheese? Using the scientific rigor here, that is just as likely.

Look, it’s not about facts; it’s about fear and repetition. Breast cancer is scary, and there are naturopaths, chiropractors, self-styled functional medicine doctors, and wellness influencers willing to carry water for this absurd hypothesis, helping it propagate. This myth was even picked up in 2015 by GOOP (of course) via a piece written for them by Dr. Habib Sadeghi, who, according to his bio on Medium, is “the founder of Be Hive of Healing, an integrative medical center based in Los Angeles, and author of The Clarity Cleanse.” Sadeghi’s post about bras causing breast cancer is now deleted from GOOP, but he has a Medium post from 2019 that is gangbusters for this myth.  

When I wrote about how there was no connection between bras and breast cancer, Sydney Ross Singer (or someone posing as him and using his “supporting arguments”) left a comment. He called me a “shill for the lingerie industry” and “hoped I wore my bra 24/7” and to make sure it was tight. Nice. Here is the screenshot. 

To disagree with me with one thing, but to wish that I get cancer? I have to ask, what is wrong with you?

Obviously, I’m not worried I’m going to get breast cancer from my Natori Feathers (also, for the record, I don’t sell bras), but that comment says a lot.

Lymphatic Compression Doesn’t Cause Cancer

If compression garments caused cancer, we’d have had vulvar cancers from girdles, control top pantyhose, and Spanx-type garments. Many women with breast cancer have their axillary lymph nodes removed, and they then wear a compression garment on their arm to prevent the accumulation of lymphatic fluid. If disrupting lymphatics or compression caused cancer, we’d know. Then again, maybe there is also a Compression Garment Lobby. 

To help put this disinformation to rest, in 2009, researchers looked at women with melanoma on the shoulder or upper arm who had their axillary (armpit) lymph nodes removed during surgery and compared them with women who didn’t have their lymph nodes removed. And you are correct; there was no difference in the subsequent risk of breast cancer. If disrupting lymphatics caused breast cancer, we‘d see it here with the women who have the greatest disruption of lymphatics. 

An Actual Peer-Reviewed Study Shows Bras Don’t Cause Breast Cancer

Given this myth wouldn’t die, researchers decided to perform a case-control study among postmenopausal women that was well-designed and addressed many confounders. A confounder is a variable that can make it seem like there is an association with the outcome when there isn't or can mask a real association. This study came out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Because there are very few women in America who do not wear a bra, they couldn’t look at bra wearing vs. no bra wearing and instead focused on the frequency of bra wearing…sort of a bra-dosing study, if you will. And no, a longer time spent wearing a bra was not linked with breast cancer. There was no link at all between any kind of bra, underwire or not, and breast cancer.

Surely that would be enough?

There is a Big Lingerie-funded Bra-Wearing Cancer Cartel! Or Something. 

Along with “Big Lingerie,” there is apparently a “cancer cartel” keeping the truth about bras from you (along with the French, who do not want us to mine the moon for cheese). Singer has many issues with the Fred Hutchison study, one of which is that the researchers did not disclose that they themselves wore bras. 

Here is a screenshot because I don’t want to be accused of making this up!

Yes, wearing a bra is EXACTLY like smoking. Heavy sarcasm font.

Obviously, as I am wearing a bra right now, I must not be fit to write about bras and breast cancer, and along with my work with “Big Lingerie,” I am probably also part of the “cancer cartel.” Note that by his logic, Singer can’t comment either, as I am assuming he doesn’t wear a bra and has never worn one, so he is clearly biased against bras.

But there is a Study Showing Tight Bras are Associated with Breast Cancer!

The study's publisher appears to be OMICS, a predatory publisher (these are folks who publish articles for a fee without any kind of peer review to allow bad research to appear legitimate). Fun fact: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) won a US$50-million ruling against OMICS for its predatory practices. Oops. Read about that here. I’m going to send that study directly to the trash. Do not pass go; do not collect $200. And do not bother with any journals published by OMICS.

Underwires Cause Electromagnetic Frequencies…or Something

Other people have different “bras are carcinogenic” theories. Everyone is so creative! The underwire (which is sometimes plastic, and not all bras have them, but I digress) can apparently distort or magnify electromagnetic fields. Here is a quote from Paltrow’s Pal, Dr.  Sadeghi:

In recent years, yet another cancer-related concern has been raised about bras, particularly those with an underwire and their ability to magnify and sustain electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) and radiation from things like cell phones and Wi-Fi. While the fact that your bra could absorb and intensify radiation seems preposterous, it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

Science has known for some time that metal objects can be used to sustain and magnify EMF radiation. 

No, it is preposterous,

And why are these people worried about bras and not the buttons and zippers in their jeans? Will no one think of the penis? What about piercings? If metal is some kind of EMF-receiving dish, why don’t we read about concerns regarding brain cancer from earrings or bone cancer from hip replacements? Why is it only bras? Why? Oh yeah, I know. Scaring women about cancer is profitable. 

Hold Influencers Accountable

I understand how people believe this myth because it’s everywhere, and repetition works. Cancer is also scary, and the algorithm favors fear-based content. In addition, lots of people don’t really know about lymphatics, so I can see how it might sound plausible, especially if you’ve heard it multiple times.

What I do not understand is how people can spread this myth because there is no excuse for not knowing. The first eight hits of a Google search (the entire front page) are different sites that explain there is no link between bras and breast cancer. If you are going to share content, it is your responsibility to do some basic fact-checking.

And if someone believes there is a global lingerie conspiracy, well, that’s, um, concerning.

If you see someone spreading this myth, block them. They don’t have your best interest at heart. In fact, what they are doing is blaming women for their own breast cancer for engagement, and that’s awful. 

Wear a bra or don’t wear a bra…do what works for you. 

Now, please excuse me. I need to change into a mega-support bra so my girls are hoisted to heaven for my weekly Big Lingerie Cancer Cartel meeting, where we plot global domination via bras.

References

Gansler, T. and Jemal, A. (2009), Axillary Lymphatic Disruption does not Increase Risk of Breast Carcinoma. The Breast Journal, 15: 438-439. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1524-4741.2009.00757.x

Hsieh CC, Trichopoulos D. Breast size, handedness and breast cancer risk. Eur J Cancer. 1991;27(2):131-5. doi: 10.1016/0277-5379(91)90469-t. PMID: 1827274.

Chen L, Malone KE, Li CI. Bra wearing not associated with breast cancer risk: a population-based case-control study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2014 Oct;23(10):2181-5. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-14-0414. Epub 2014 Sep 5. PMID: 25192706; PMCID: PMC4184992.