Cancer Research UK responded to the report about a recent study published in the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry highlighting a possible link between use of deodorant, antiperspirant and breast cancer incidence.
Researchers mentioned that the aluminium content of breast tissue and breast tissue fat was significantly higher in the outer regions of the breast, in close proximity to the area where there would be the highest density of antiperspirant.
The major constituent of antiperspirant is aluminium salts which have long been associated with cancer, as well as other human disease. The daily application of aluminium-based antiperspirants should result in the presence of aluminium in the tissue of the underarm and surrounding areas.
Henry Scowcroft, Cancer Research UK’s senior scientific officer, said: “This research examined the distribution of aluminium in breast tissue samples from just 17 women with breast cancer. It did not compare this data with aluminium levels in the rest of their bodies, nor with healthy individuals. As such its findings do not in any way demonstrate that aluminium contained in deodorants can affect breast cancer risk.
“In fact there is no compelling evidence to support this link – studies of large groups of people have failed to show a difference in cancer risk between people who use deodorant and people who don’t.
“Breast cancers are indeed more common in the upper outer region of the breast. But this is unlikely to be because this is the region sprayed by deodorants, and almost certainly because this area contains the most breast tissue.”