Hair-straightening chemicals linked to increased risk of uterine cancer in new study

CNN
—

Scientists are uncovering new details about the link between the use of certain hair-straightening products, such as chemical relaxers and press products, and increased cancer risk in women.

Ongoing research previously suggested that hair-straightening chemicals were associated with an increased risk of certain hormone-related cancers, including breast and ovarian cancer, but new research now suggests. The use of hair straightening products is associated with an increased risk of uterine cancer. Black women may be more affected because they use the products more often, the researchers note.

A study published on Monday Journal of the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 1.6% of women who had not used hair straightening products in the past 12 months developed uterine cancer by age 70, whereas those who frequently used such hair straightening products It is estimated that about 4% of women with cancer have developed uterine cancer by age 70. .

The findings “also tell us that uterine cancer is indeed rare. But the doubling of risk raises concern,” said the study’s authors, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Researcher Chandra Jackson said.

“In this study, women who used it frequently in the past year had a more than doubled risk of uterine cancer,” she said. Frequent use means that she used the service more than 4 times in the previous year.

The new study includes data on nearly 34,000 women in the United States between the ages of 35 and 74 who completed questionnaires about their use of specific hair products such as perms, dyes, relaxers and straighteners. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health also tracked the incidence of cancer diagnoses within the study group.

Researchers found a strong association between hair straightening products and cases of uterine cancer, but the use of other hair products such as dyes, perms and body waves was not associated with uterine cancer. I didn’t.

The study data also showed that the association between hair straightening products and uterine cancer cases was most pronounced among black women, who made up only 7.4% of the study participants, compared with straight women. 59.9% of those who reported having used Nar.

Several factors may contribute to the frequent use of hair straightening products. Eurocentric beauty standards, social pressures imposed on black and Latino women. workplace settings Related to the threat of microaggressions and discrimination, diversity is desired when changing hairstyles and self-expression.

“The bottom line is that black women appear to have a higher radiation burden,” Jackson said.

“Based on the literature in this area, hair products marketed directly to Black children and women have been found to contain multiple chemicals associated with These products have harsher chemicals,” she said. “Additionally, we know that black women tend to use multiple products at the same time. There is likely to be.”

The researchers did not collect information about the brands or ingredients of the hair products used by the women, but the increased incidence of uterine cancer observed in the study was linked to the use of some of the chemicals identified in straighteners. I wrote in my paper that substances may have contributed.

“To our knowledge, this is the first epidemiological study to examine the relationship between straightener use and uterine cancer,” said director of the Environmental and Cancer Epidemiology Group at the National Institute of Environmental Health. Alexandra White, lead author of the study, said: said in a news release Monday.

“We want to confirm these findings in different populations, determine whether hair products contribute to uterine cancer health disparities, and identify specific chemicals that may increase cancer risk in women. Further research is needed to determine.”

Tamara James Todd, an epidemiologist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said several substances found in hair straightening products, especially those most used and sold to black and Latina women, can alter hormones. It states that it is a disruptive chemical. A new study, but apart from this one, leads some of the earliest studies to find a link between hair products and cancer.

“They alter the normal hormonal processes in our bodies, so it makes sense to look at hormone-mediated cancers,” she says, noting that hormone-disrupting chemicals can affect the body. He added that it could affect other parts as well.

“The challenge is that the effects of these chemicals may not be limited to hormonal processes, but they may also affect other systems, including the immune system and the vascular system. Understanding how things work across systems is still a new and growing research area,” James Todd told CNN.

“So it’s possible that the way these chemicals work is by altering not just hormonal responses, but immune and even vascular responses,” she said. is related to.”

Otis Brawley, Ph.D., a Bloomberg professor at Johns Hopkins University, said the new study was “well done” and showed a link between chemical hair straightening products and an increased risk of uterine cancer, but that the products were directly linked to it. He said he could not be certain that it was the cause of cancer. A public health professor and former chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said in an email to CNN:

“We can’t tell you the cause. There could be a pure association,” said Brawley, who was not involved with the new study.

But “the question of how to solve this is difficult. The scientific ideal is a randomized trial of about 40,000 people. 20,000 use hair straighteners regularly, 20,000 never use them.” No or no use and 20 years of follow-up.”