Can Deodorant cause breast cancer?

Can Deodorant cause breast cancer?

What Happened

Headline

The concern is that parabens, preservatives used in some deodorants and antiperspirants, and aluminum, an active ingredient in many antiperspirants, can cause breast cancer

Some deodorants contain parabens, which may be linked to breast cancer.

Darbre PD. Underarm cosmetics and breast cancer. Journal of Applied Toxicology 2003; 23(2):89–95. [PubMed Abstract]

Who are the witnesses

When Did It Happen

Darbre PD. Underarm cosmetics and breast cancer. Journal of Applied Toxicology 2003; 23(2):89–95. [PubMed Abstract]

Darbre PD. Aluminium, antiperspirants and breast cancer. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 2005; 99(9):1912–1919. [PubMed Abstract]

Where did it happen

Abstract

Although risk factors are known to include the loss of function of the susceptibility genes BRCA1/BRCA2 and lifetime exposure to oestrogen, the main causative agents in breast cancer remain unaccounted for. It has been suggested recently that underarm cosmetics might be a cause of breast cancer, because these cosmetics contain a variety of chemicals that are applied frequently to an area directly adjacent to the breast. The strongest supporting evidence comes from unexplained clinical observations showing a disproportionately high incidence of breast cancer in the upper outer quadrant of the breast, just the local area to which these cosmetics are applied. A biological basis for breast carcinogenesis could result from the ability of the various constituent chemicals to bind to DNA and to promote growth of the damaged cells. Multidisciplinary research is now needed to study the effect of long-term use of the constituent chemicals of underarm cosmetics, because if there proves to be any link between these cosmetics and breast cancer then there might be options for the prevention of breast cancer.

The study of when it happened in the year of 2004, there was about 18 to 20 samples of tissue from human breast tumors.

It happened in Britain, new cases of breast cancer have doubled from about 20,000 a year in the late 1970s to almost 40,000 a year now.

Britain has one of the world's highest rates of the disease and every year about 13,000 British women die from it.

How did it happen

What was done about it

Darbre PD. Aluminium, antiperspirants and breast cancer. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 2005; 99(9):1912–1919. [PubMed Abstract]

Conlcusion

Women concerned about breast cancer should know that their risk is much more likely to be affected by factors known to affect hormone levels in the body, such as obesity and hormone replacement therapy after menopause. Women who want to reduce their risk of developing or dying from breast cancer should take these actions:

Avoid or limit hormone replacement therapy

Get to and stay at a healthy weight

Exercise regularly

Limit the amount of alcohol they drink

Know how their breasts look and feel, and report any changes to their doctors right away

Get regular mammograms and breast exams by their doctors as recommended

this is how we can stop it: Do me a favor. Go to your bathroom, pick up your deodorant, turn it around and read the list of active and inactive ingredients on the back. If you don’t recognize or understand anything past the word “alcohol” and that concerns you, you might want to consider switching to a natural deodorant. Shop around for one that works. (Just because it’s labeled “natural” doesn’t mean it’s any good. Some are pure rubbish, and you’d be better off sprinkling fairy dust under your armpits.)

Who Is Involved

Why Did It happen

Aluminium salts are used as the active antiperspirant agent in underarm cosmetics, but the effects of widespread, long term and increasing use remain unknown, especially in relation to the breast, which is a local area of application. Clinical studies showing a disproportionately high incidence of breast cancer in the upper outer quadrant of the breast together with reports of genomic instability in outer quadrants of the breast provide supporting evidence for a role for locally applied cosmetic chemicals in the development of breast cancer. Aluminium is known to have a genotoxic profile, capable of causing both DNA alterations and epigenetic effects, and this would be consistent with a potential role in breast cancer if such effects occurred in breast cells. Oestrogen is a well established influence in breast cancer and its action, dependent on intracellular receptors which function as ligand-activated zinc finger transcription factors, suggests one possible point of interference from aluminium. Results reported here demonstrate that aluminium in the form of aluminium chloride or aluminium chlorhydrate can interfere with the function of oestrogen receptors of MCF7 human breast cancer cells both in terms of ligand binding and in terms of oestrogen-regulated reporter gene expression. This adds aluminium to the increasing list of metals capable of interfering with oestrogen action and termed metalloestrogens. Further studies are now needed to identify the molecular basis of this action, the longer term effects of aluminium exposure and whether aluminium can cause aberrations to other signalling pathways in breast cells.

This person is involved Sarah Siddons

Doctors all over the world are conducting many types of cancer treatment studies (clinical trials) in which people volunteer to take part. Research has already led to advances in the prevention, detection, and treatment of breast cancer.

Doctors continue to search for new and better ways to treat breast cancer. NCI is sponsoring many studies with women who have breast cancer, such as studies that combine surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiation therapy.

Even if a woman in a research study doesn't benefit directly from the treatment under study, she may still make an important contribution by helping doctors learn more about breast cancer and how to control it. Although research studies may pose some risks, researchers do all they can to protect their patients.

You are asked to not use antiperspirant or deodorant on the day you get a mammogram because many of these products contain aluminum. This metal can show up on a mammogram as tiny specks. These specks can look like microcalcifications, which are one of the things doctors look for as a possible sign of cancer. Not using these products helps prevent any confusion when the mammogram films are reviewed.