Stuck in Iowa

If you sweat a lot, or have some body odor when sweating, or suffer from a form of excessive perspiration (hyperhidrosis), the antiperspirant/deodorant has been a great answer to your problem. I used to sweat constantly. I would sweat when nervous, I’d sweat when it’s hot or even cold, and I’d sweat by just doing nothing. That’s when somebody recommended Certain Dri. It’s worked great so far. I use it off and on… maybe once every 3 days for about 2 weeks then I don’t use it again for about a month. If you’re interested in this product you can buy it at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and even read user reviews over at Amazon.com. It’s highly effective. Certain Dri contains aluminum chloride.

Anyway, let’s talk about antiperspirants and cancer.

A friend of mine told me that antiperspirants cause breast cancer. This is the 3rd time I’ve heard this so I did some research. 2 times from women, 1 time from a man. I did some searching on the internet using Google can came upon the US Gov website explaining this issue.

You can read the full report here. Here’s an excerpt from the article.

The Cancer Myth
The rise of the Internet has made it easy for false health claims, scary stories, and rumors to reach millions of people in a matter of minutes. One such myth says that antiperspirants may cause breast cancer.

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the breast cancer-antiperspirant myth first appeared in the form of an e-mail in the 1990s, and continues to resurface and recirculate about every year or so. The false information suggests that antiperspirants contain harmful substances, which can be absorbed through the skin or can enter the body near the breasts through nicks in the skin caused by shaving. The e-mails also suggested that antiperspirants keep a person from “sweating out toxins,” resulting in the spread of cancer-causing toxins via the lymph nodes.

But the NCI says that no existing scientific or medical evidence links the use of underarm antiperspirants or deodorants to the subsequent development of breast cancer. The FDA, the Mayo Clinic, the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association agree. Razor nicks may increase the risk of skin infection, but not cancer.

According to the ACS, sweat glands are not connected to the lymph nodes. Most cancer-causing substances are removed by the kidneys, are released through urine or by the liver, and are eliminated with feces. The ACS says that lymph nodes may help to clear some toxins from the body, but they do not release these toxins through sweating. Sweat is not a significant route for eliminating toxins from the body.

And a study of 813 women with breast cancer and 703 women with no history of breast cancer, published in the October 2002 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that antiperspirants do not cause breast cancer.

Some speculate that the myth could have been started by women being told not to wear antiperspirants or deodorants before a mammogram. They were told this, not for safety reasons, but because residue from these products appearing in the X-ray is often mistaken for an abnormality in the breast.

So there you have it. Antiperspirant Awareness.
This information was taken from the FDA Consumer magazine, July-August 2005 Issue

Here are some more resources regarding antiperspirant and cancer.
breastcancer.org -
Antiperspirants Do NOT Cause Breast Cancer
cancer.org -
Antiperspirants and Breast Cancer Risk
cancer.gov -
Antiperspirants/Deodorants and Breast Cancer: Questions and Answers
usatoday.com -
Study disproves e-mail hoax linking antiperspirants, cancer