Chemical straightener and dark hair dyes elevates breast cancer risk

Publish Date : 2017-07-14

A new research study discovered that white and African-American women those who frequently straightened their hair using chemical relaxers or use dark brown or black hair dye are more prone to breast cancer risk.

After going through the research report in Carcinogenesis, epidemiologist Tamarra James-Todd said that she might be more worried about chemical hair relaxers and darker hair dye and everyone must think about the things which are being used in moderation and one should actually try to be more natural. Tamarra James-Todd was not part of the research team who discovered this new research study; she is a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. She further said that one should not assume anything as safe for them, just because it is trending and popular in the market.

The research conducted over more than 4 thousand white and African-American women, it was only to uncover a major rise in breast cancer threat between African-American women those used darker hair dye shades and white women those used chemical hair straighteners.

The research study found out that among African-American women who use darker shades of hair dye have seen a 51% amplified threat of breast cancer compared to African-American women those did not, whereas white women who used chemical hair straighteners had a 74% enhanced threat of breast cancer.

The breast cancer risk was yet elevated for white women those often dyed their hair darker hair colors plus straitened their hair with chemical relaxers and it less than half for white women those never used dark dye or chemical relaxers compared to white dual users.

Lead author Adana Llanos who is an epidemiologist at the Rutgers School of Public Health in Piscataway, New Jersey was surprised to discover the link between breast cancer and chemical relaxers in white women, even though she was also disturbed about the safety of chemical straighteners in black women like her, that quit them years back.

She stated in a phone interview that several people have inquired if she is suggesting women not to use any hair dye or relaxers for their hairs but she is not concerned about that. She is really concerned about the importance of awareness over the types of exposures in products that are being used.

The research study performed across adult women from New Jersey and New York studied from 2002 to 2008, women determined with breast cancer, plus women of similar age but without the cancer history.

Women were inquired about ever use of permanent hair color at least once or twice a year and they were also inquired about ever use of chemical relaxer or straightener at least once a year.

Whereas the huge bulk around 88% of African-American had utilized chemical relaxers and barely 5% of white woman have been using chemical relaxers.

For darker hair color, the statistics slightly tossed though the difference was not drastic. While 58% of white women admitted the regular use of hair dark shades, just 30% of black women did.

The most prominent outcomes demonstrated amplified risk in less African-American women those utilized darker hair color and white women those used chemical hair straightener.

African-American women who utilized chemical relaxers and white women who used darker hair color were also at elevated threat of breast cancer, but that could be by chance.

Tamarra James-Todd further said that since a lot of African-American women used a chemical straightener and many of the white women utilized dark hair color, the association might be tough to identify. Also, there’s no ground to consider that chemical hair straightener and darker hair colors might amplify the breast cancer risk for women of one race and not of another. She believes the link stems from cultural but not from genetics standards.

It could also simmer down to yield, and women from various cultures might utilize different relaxers and hair dyes. However, the research study did not inquire women about the products they utilized.

The analysis comprises the major number of black women therefore far analyzed for breast cancer risk and dark hair color, according to the research crew.

Earlier research has shown that prolonged users of dark hair colors have four times amplified risk of fatal multiple myeloma and deadly non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Previous studies also have linked dark hair color use to an elevated threat of bladder cancer.

In a 2016 report from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that breast cancer rates are usually analogous for African-American and white women, at about 122 new cases for each 1 million women a year, even though African-American women with the syndrome are more prone to pass away.