Clearly more research is needed. Maybe Sid and I can collaborate on a grant proposal . . .But claiming that all women would be better off without a bra without EXTREMELY substantial research makes it harder to take the article seriously.
Yes, without evidence-based photography, the study's conclusions are flimsy, so to speak.And there is bras and bras!
The immense majority of young female french population wears bras to look sexy. Which means they wear kind of flimsy lacy or silky things held in place by hard half circular wiring under the breasts, which do not really provide comfort but compress lymphatic glands and are suspected to cause breast cancer. Taking of these kind of bra is probably a good thing for liberated breathing and health in general.
"Normal" i.e. "sensible" bras without wiring are either hard to come by, or, like sport bras, not really sexy.
It would be interesting to know what kind of bra the women participating in the study were mostly wearing before abandoning them.
Really? Have never heard that before. Any references?...which do not really provide comfort but compress lymphatic glands and are suspected to cause breast cancer...
Hi ChasingShadows,Really? Have never heard that before. Any references?
Thanks Hobbit, but from reading around that book it really doesn't sound like they have scientifically proved any link & that does seem to be the pretty much the only text quoted on the web (admittedly, no, my French & German aren't going to be up to understanding studies). Reading reviews both on Amazon & elsewhere on the web the study appears to lack credibility, one of the main weakness being that they haven't allowed for other risk factors (& a lot of the positive reviews seem to be along the lines of "My breasts hurt until I took my bra off", which is a common symptom of a badly fitting bra). I no longer have access to any useful scientific sites, but would trust Cancer UK to have done a thorough literature evaluation (including non-English publications), this is their comment on the subject: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/can.../cancer-questions/bras-and-breast-cancer-risk.Hi ChasingShadows,
here is a link for a book in english language on the subject (I suppose that studies in french or german would be less useful for you?)
http://www.amazon.com/Dressed-Kill-between-Breast-Cancer/dp/1930858051