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One more time: No, antiperspirants do not cause breast cancer

Dr Spurti Kattimani

3 Min Read

Fast Check Fact Checked

October is breast cancer awareness month. Read all about one of the most common breast cancer myths and the truth behind it in this article.

Fake WhatsApp forwards claims that aluminium salts used as adjuvants in vaccines cause autism. And if you listened to these quacks, that’s not all they claim — they even blame this nefarious metal for breast cancer. But don’t throw away your deodorant or antiperspirant just yet. The evidence cited to support this claim made by quacks and cranks is utterly unconvincing. Much of it even borders on pseudoscience.

Busting the myth about breast cancers

We bet you’ve read articles titled “Why women should avoid using antiperspirants that could cause breast cancer” or “Attention deodorant users: New studies link aluminium to breast cancer.”

These articles, even though outdated, some even dating as back as September 2007, keep resurfacing each year based on the same sorts of claims and the same studies.

But are they legitimate? Let’s dig in. Shall we?

#Myth 1: Antiperspirant inhibits your body from releasing toxins from under your armpits. This causes cancer.

So what this myth claims is that the antiperspirant, as the name suggests, prevents you from perspiring, which inhibits your body from purging toxins from your armpits.

And since these toxins do not magically disappear, the body deposits them in the lymph nodes under the armpits as it cannot sweat them out.

This causes a high accumulation of toxins leading to cell mutation, a.k.a CANCER.

Fact: None of these points mentioned above has anything to do with breast cancer. They’re all myths.

The origin of this myth typically arises from a misunderstanding of biology and the issue of “toxins” that most regular readers tend to recognize immediately.

But the fact is there is nothing called the “toxin”.

When you sweat, the apocrine sweat glands, predominantly found under armpits and groin, produce substances that the bacteria on the skin can feast upon, producing the characteristic stinky aroma.

But these aren’t “toxins”.

Rather, these are bodily secretions to regulate your body temperature.

Further, the sweat glands aren’t a source of “detoxification”. Such claimed biological function does not exist in the armpit area.

All detoxification processes either occur in the liver or kidneys, and toxins are expelled through the urine and not your armpit.

Therefore, the claim that blocking these sweat glands, which is how aluminium-containing antiperspirants tend to work, causes the accumulation of “toxins” under the armpit is entirely baseless.

#Myth 2: Imperceptible nicks caused due to shaving give the chemicals entrance into the body from the armpit area leading to cancers.

This myth says that a cut in the dermis, which is the layer of skin just below the epidermis and is usually all that gets nicked when you shave, would let harmful chemicals build up in the skin and cause breast cancer.

Fact: A cut in the skin under your armpit does not lead to an accumulation of chemicals leading to breast cancer.

Let’s put it this way: even if the skin was cut all the way to the dermis, it would have to be a deep cut for chemicals to reach there (since the dermis lies below the epidermis).

Therefore, number one, even if #myth 2 were true, which obviously isn’t, we’d expect an elevated risk for skin cancer and not breast cancer.

Number 2, even if there was a big cut, there is also no plausible mechanism by which chemicals from antiperspirants can get much beyond the dermis, let alone reach the breast tissues.

Again, the myth that nicks under your skin lead to the accumulation of chemicals is false.

So what causes breast cancer?

Doctors to date don’t yet know what causes breast cancer.

But here’s what research and science tell us could be the reasons:

Hormonal imbalance
Lumps in breasts
Family history (chances for this are very low)
If you don’t breastfeed (there’s a correlation between not breastfeeding your baby and cancers. Again, this is rare. Please don’t be alarmed), and
Poor lifestyle choices, such as smoking or drinking alcohol

Conclusion

Rumours around the causes of breast cancer persist – but the evidence for these claims doesn’t always stack up. Please fact-check any information that you receive on any social media or hear from random people.

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Written by

Dr Spurti Kattimani

Dr Spurti is a Consultant Physician with 6+years of experience. She has previously worked at Bangalore Medical College and ESIC College and hospital. She also worked as a Pathology professor and Dermatology resident in previous hospitals. Currently, she is working as a Program Manager and Consultant at MFine.

One more time: No, antiperspirants do not cause breast cancer

Busting the myth about breast cancers

#Myth 1: Antiperspirant inhibits your body from releasing toxins from under your armpits. This causes cancer.

Fact: None of these points mentioned above has anything to do with breast cancer. They’re all myths.

#Myth 2: Imperceptible nicks caused due to shaving give the chemicals entrance into the body from the armpit area leading to cancers.

Fact: A cut in the skin under your armpit does not lead to an accumulation of chemicals leading to breast cancer.

So what causes breast cancer?

Conclusion

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