Did you grow up in the “golden age” of internet communication when email was a primary method of communication, AOL Instant Messenger was how young people chatted, and you couldn’t be on the phone and the internet at the same time? If so, you likely remember chain letters—they plagued us all and, based on false promises, scams, or threats, often sent readers into a panic. But what does all this have to do with the health concerns surrounding aluminum-containing deodorants, aka antiperspirants? Well, it turns out that one of those fear-inducing chain emails is how this whole fear-mongering rumor started.
In 1999, an anonymous chain letter was sent out via email sending people across America and Europe into a panic.
“I just got information from a health seminar that I would like to share. The leading cause of breast cancer is the use of anti-perspirant.” This was how the email began. It continued:
“The human body has a few areas that it uses to purge toxins; behind the knees, behind the ears, groin area, and armpits. The toxins are purged in the form of perspiration. Anti-perspirant, as the name clearly indicates, prevents you from perspiring, thereby inhibiting the body from purging toxins from below the armpits. These toxins do not just magically disappear. Instead, the body deposits them in the lymph nodes below the arms since it cannot sweat them out. This causes a high concentration of toxins and leads to cell mutations: a.k.a. CANCER. Nearly all breast cancer tumors occur in the upper outside quadrant of the breast area. This is precisely where the lymph nodes are located.”
To many of us, this claim might seem plausible on its face—and it’s been опубликовано and republished in pop-culture magazines many times in the intervening years, even though news reports and publications (like this one, from 1999) tried to reel in the fast spreading panic. But is there actually any truth in the fear of aluminum deodorants? Or is this just another case of “fake news?” Let’s take a closer look at one of the claims that have gripped health-conscious people for the past 25 years to see if there is any truth to the allegation that antiperspirant is the leading cause of breast рак.
What is antiperspirant?
You may be surprised to know that the US Управление по санитарному надзору за качеством пищевых продуктов и медикаментов (FDA) classifies antiperspirant as a drug, meaning a “product intended to treat or prevent disease, or affect the structure or function of the body” while a deodorant is classified as a cosmetic, “intended to cleanse or beautify.” But don’t let the FDA’s definition scare you off just yet… dandruff shampoos and diaper ointments are also listed as “drugs” under the FDA guidelines.
What makes antiperspirant a “drug” is that it does, in fact, affect the function of your body. While deodorants typically use an alcohol-based formula to make the skin less habitable for smelly bacteria, antiperspirants use aluminum-based compounds to temporarily block sweat glands.
The drama with aluminum
While aluminum is the active ingredient in blocking sweat glands, there are two widely popularized theories that have everyone up in arms… or should I say up to their armpits in worry.
Cause or correlation?
The first fear is that the aluminum doesn’t just stay at the skin-level, but gets absorbed by the skin and is collected by the lymph nodes, and the buildup of aluminum causes breast cancer. On its face, this theory sounds reasonable, which is why the public reacted so strongly to this message.
One of the first big studies on aluminum and breast cancer came out in 2005 in the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, citing that researchers found that not only was there a higher incidence of actual breast cancer in the upper outer quadrants of breast tissue, but that same area of breast tissue had a higher tendency for the DNA to mutate (increasing the chances of breast cancer) compared to other areas of breast tissue. Researchers made the connection that since aluminum antiperspirants are applied to the armpit (which is the area closest to the upper outer quadrant of the breast tissue) and that aluminum is a known “metalloestrogen” (a metal that acts like estrogen in the body), then there was a chance that the aluminum antiperspirants are the cause of breast cancer [1].
Paired with a 2007 study published out of Keele University that found “the aluminum content of breast tissue and breast tissue fat was significantly higher in the outer regions of the breast, in close proximity to the area where there would be the highest density of antiperspirant,” it seemed like the jury was in, and aluminum represented a major potential culprit behind increasing breast cancer rates. [2]
However, researchers from both studies also acknowledged that future research “will be important to establish [skin] absorption [of aluminum] in the local area of the breast” [1] and that researchers “have no direct evidence that the aluminium measured in these breast biopsies originated from antiperspirant. An alternative explanation might be that tumorous tissue acts as a ‘sink’ for systemic aluminium” [2].
Competing evidence around aluminum and breast cancer
Not every study from the early 2000s painted such a tidy picture of aluminum antiperspirant use as the definite culprit behind breast cancer. A 2002 US-based study tested 813 women diagnosed with breast cancer and 793 women without breast cancer, and found that the risk of breast cancer did not increase with antiperspirant use (including before or after shaving with a razor blade) [6].
Аналогичным образом 2006 Iraq-based study looked at 54 women with breast cancer and 50 women without breast cancer. The researchers found that only 51.8% of women diagnosed with the cancer regularly used antiperspirants, while 82% of women without breast cancer (the control group) used antiperspirants. In fact, the only associations found for breast cancer diagnosis were family history and использование оральных контрацептивов [7].
In 2013, a study published in the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology used graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, a highly sensitive analytical technique used for determining elemental concentrations, especially at the ultra-trace level, to measure aluminum in breast biopsies. Using a microwave-based process, tissues from multiple regions of breasts with cancer were broken down and tested, resulting in an average of 0.39 micrograms of aluminum across ALL breast tissue samples—that is, ”there were no statistically significant regionally specific differences in the content of aluminum” [3].
Another study published in 2013 in BMC Cancer sampled cancerous and non-cancerous breast tissue from 176 breast cancer patients, and found that there were no significant differences in the aluminum concentrations between the tissue samples [5].
What the American Cancer Society says about breast cancer and antiperspirants
Сайт Американское онкологическое общество (ACS) summarizes all of the above in the following way:
“The actual amount of aluminum absorbed would be much less than what would be expected to be absorbed from the foods a person eats during the same time. It also doesn’t seem that breast cancer tissue contains more aluminum than normal breast tissue. A study that looked at women with breast cancer found no real difference in the concentration of aluminum between the cancer and the surrounding normal tissue…
“The actual amount of aluminum absorbed would be much less than what would be expected to be absorbed from the foods a person eats during the same time. It also doesn’t seem that breast cancer tissue contains more aluminum than normal breast tissue. A study that looked at women with breast cancer found no real difference in the concentration of aluminum between the cancer and the surrounding normal tissue…
And what about breast cancer occurring near where we apply deodorant? The ACS points out: “The breast quadrants are not actually all the same size. About half of all breast cancers develop in the upper outer part of the breast, but this is most likely because there is more breast tissue in this area. The number of breast cancers in the upper outer part of the breast is in proportion to the amount of breast tissue in that area.”
The ACS likewise concludes: “There is no evidence to suggest that the location of cancers within the breast is related to using antiperspirants or underarm shaving.”
Keeping toxins in?
Finally, let’s address the claim from the 1999 email chain letter that breast cancer is caused by a buildup of toxins in your lymph nodes that your body would otherwise excrete through sweat. The Американское онкологическое общество again addresses this theory directly stating: “the lymph nodes do not release waste or toxins through sweating. In fact, lymph nodes are not connected to sweat glands. Sweat glands are located in the skin, not in the lymph nodes. The main function of sweat glands is to help cool the body, not to get rid of toxins.”
Общая картина
If you still feel convinced that aluminum-free deodorant is the way to go, there’s no reason to change up that part of your self-care routine. It’s never a bad idea to use personal care products with as few, gentle ingredients as possible, especially because there are hidden endocrine-disruptors in so many of the products we use every day! But if you’re a sweaty Betty and are attached to your antiperspirant, so far science is still giving you the green light, too. While additional research on breast cancer and aluminum deodorant use would be informative, so far it seems that regular antiperspirant use is not the cause of breast cancer. (In fact, we have much better data to support the connection between contraceptive use and breast cancer than we do any particular deodorant or care product.)
While additional research on breast cancer and aluminum deodorant use would be informative, so far it seems that regular antiperspirant use is not the cause of breast cancer. (In fact, we have much better data to support the connection between contraceptive use and breast cancer than we do any particular deodorant or care product.)
So if you’re really looking to lower your breast cancer risk (and who among us isn’t?) your best bet might be ditching your birth control instead of your deodorant—and learning a fertility awareness method instead.
