The new research examines the connection between some popular hair products and breast cancer risks. The research shows the importance of gathering health related data and using computerized big data analytics to review findings and to make health recommendations. The research also signals a safety warning about the level of testing required, especially for companies entering the health and beauty market.
The connection between some hair products and cancer is drawn is because some of the additives to hair dyes and relaxers have classed as carcinogenic following animal studies. The overall evidence from animal models, however, remains inconclusive.
For the study, the research group reviewed and trended data from some 4,300 women. The women were taking part in the Women’s Circle of Health Study, which aims to understand breast cancer in black women. Breast cancer among African American women is of a more aggressive nature, leading to their worse survival compared to Caucasian women.
With the study population, some women had developed breast cancer. Medical News Today reports that with the 4,285 women studied, 2,280 had breast cancer and 2,005 did. The women’s ages ranged from 20 to 75 years.
The researchers then accounted for other factors that may influence breast cancer risk, including genetics; the level of alcohol consumed; and smoking. The medical records of the women were then examined in relation to the hair products the women used. This included hair dyes, relaxers, straighteners, and conditioners.
The analysis, as Laboratory Roots summarizes, established a link between breast cancer and hair product use. There were differences here between women in different ethnic groups, with black women having a lower association than white women. Risks were greatest when the researchers narrowed down the population to look at estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. With white women, who used chemical relaxers or straighteners, the risk for breast cancer increased to 74 percent.
To re-stress the findings can only show a relationship between the regular use of some hair products and breast cancer risk. The researchers conclude that further examination is required. Here a greater narrowing down of different types of hair products and the chemicals they contain, together with the typical number of exposures is needed.
The research has been published in the journal Carcinogensis. The research paper is titled “Hair product use and breast cancer risk among African American and White women.”
