A recent National Institutes of Health research suggests that women who use chemical hair straightening products may have an increased chance of developing uterine cancer.
Researchers discovered a link between hair straightening products and uterine cancer after studying data from 33,497 US women between the ages of 34 and 74. There was no evidence linking other items, such as hair dyes and perms, to cancer.
The ladies participated in Sister Study, a study conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) with the goal of determining breast cancer risk factors. During the participants’ ten-year follow-up, 378 incidences of uterine cancer were documented.
Women who used these items too frequently (more than four times annually) were more than twice as likely to have a diagnosis.
The primary author of the current study and director of the NIEHS Environment and Cancer Epidemiology section, Alexandra White, PhD, warned that the doubling rate was alarming.
Although uterine cancer is the most frequent cancer of the female reproductive system, it is generally infrequent.
In a research that was written up in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Black women made up more than half of the individuals who admitted to using hair straighteners. This suggests that there may be greater dangers associated with this specific race.
Although the research didn’t name specific brands, it did discover several frequent substances including parabens, metals, and bisphenol A in the items.
The scientists previously found that “permanent hair colour and straighteners may enhance breast and ovarian cancer risk” in another scientific study.
