Bras?

Bras
Not sure what to think about that one - as you age everything goes "south" so I would think not wearing a bra would cause this to happen much sooner. As to the breast cancer issue, if that were true, wouldn't everyone who wore a bra have cancer?

Another thought
I have a magazine that says broccoli cuts cancer risk 53%, and so on and so on. Added them all up and it came to 198% cut in cancer risk.

Well, my favorite vegetables have always been broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc. didn't make a bit of difference. In fact most of the items listed are on my "good food" list.

I believe that there is no rhyme or reason to this disease. Eating correctly certainly helps keep you healthy, but as far as preventing cancer - don't think so.

Quackery
I have heard it said that you can prove anything with statistics. If two things happen at the same time (like the sale of potato chips and the rise in the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder), statistics makes it look like one caused the other. In countries where the women go around bra-less there may be a totally different set of genes, a different diet, a different climate, and a different set of pollution problems to deal with. Ferreting out what caused a decrease or an increase in cancer is not easy to prove one way or another, but it does sound like quackery to me. Deodorant is another thing blamed for breast cancer. However, breast cancer doesn't occur where the deodorant is placed for the most part, disproving that "fact". I read a fascinating book on the history of breast cancer titled Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer and History by James S. Olson. It pointed out lots of myths and theories through the centuries. (Don't read this book if you have a weak stomach. Breast cancer history is not pretty. As bad as it is now, even twenty years ago the standard of care was lots worse!) Fact is, way before bras were invented there have been women with breast cancer. We have more breast cancer today. Part of the problem is that we live longer. Cells degenerate as we live longer. The ends of the telemeres break off and cause mutations that the immune system sometimes misses. Women who are highly educated and live in advanced countries do tend to get it more often, even at a younger age. Researchers think that may be because they have babies at a later age, eat more protein (like red meat) at a young age, and breast feed less frequently. Lack of exercise and excess weight also contribute to more cancer. All of these things expose the body to more estrogen. Estrogen is a known promoter of cancer cell growth in the breast. Breast feeding actually is known to change the cells in the mother's breasts in beneficial ways, but many women think breast feeding is too "uncivilized". Working often interferes with long-term breast feeding. Diabetes is on the rise in the US and that is known to be associated with more breast cancer. But underwires! I only wish it were so simple!

chenheart said:

To Bra or Not to Bra~That is the question!
OMG...if only we could REALLY know! I am a Baby-boomer, thus from the Hippie Generation, the Bra-less wonders! Pre-Gravity, of course! Add to that the bra-burning feminists, and whoo hoo--the BC rate should be almost nothing in women of a "certain age"! Alas, the stats just don't prove that to be true.
So, what causes cancer??? I say LIFE does! We can smoke or not, drink or not, wear bras or not, eat broccoli or not~ just fill in the blanks. Maybe we will get it , maybe we won't. Who knows??? And some smoking, drinking, drug using, sexually promiscuous, unwashsed, chronically unemployed, donut and crisco laden food eaters will NEVER get ANY form of cancer. And, the converse of all of that is true as well!!!

I imagine that if we fall into the category of those who did get cancer...we just do what we have to do ( surgery, chemo, rads, meds) so that we can do what we WANT to do...LIVE!!!

Hugs,
Claudia

Well said Claudia. We do
Well said Claudia. We do what we do and endure what we endure because we want to LIVE!!!! Hugs, Lili