ARE WIRE-FREE BRAS BETTER FOR YOUR HEALTH?

If you’re not sure, you’re not alone: An American Cancer Society survey found that 37% of adults believe a too-tight or underwire bra may cause cancer. The idea first gained traction in the 1990s. One book, citing a Harvard study that said women who wore bras were more likely to have breast cancer than those who didn’t, claimed that bras cut off the circulation of lymph through the breast tissue, leading to a buildup of cancercausing toxins. Over the years, that theory morphed into blaming underwires.

The good news: “It’s inconsistent with what we know about how lymph moves through the breast,” says Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D., founder of Atossa Genetics, a health-care firm that specializes in breast health. “In fact, studies of women who have no underarm lymph nodes, blocking lymph flow from the breast tissue, show they had no increase in breast-cancer risk.”

What’s more, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle designed a study specifically to address the rumors. “It didn’t matter how many hours women wore a bra or whether the bra had underwire, we found no evidence that wearing one is linked to breast cancer,” says study co-author Lu Chen, Ph.D., an assistant investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.

So why has this old myth gained new traction? “Maybe we wish there was an outside cause, something we can control,” suggests Dr. Quay. “But I wouldn’t worry about your bra causing cancer.”