Valk
19th November 2005, 11:01 PM
To help Spike a bit with his research I have found another interesting article on bras and breast:
What causes sagging of breasts?
Sagging or drooping of breasts is a natural, inevitable process that happens to all women at some point - except those with fairly small breasts. The most notable sagging happens with the process called breast involution (see below), but breasts can start drooping a little at any age, because they do NOT have muscles in them. They have ligaments and connective tissue. When the gravity pulls the breasts down, those ligaments and the skin can stretch, and so the breast then droops. This depends on the elasticity of your skin and of your ligaments, as determined by your genes and diet, and also on normal aging processes. Obviously large breasts will sag easier since the gravity is pulling them down more.
Breast involution is a process where the milk-making system inside the breast shrinks because it's not needed anymore. This happens either after weaning, or right after pregnancy if you don't breastfeed at all, or during menopause. When the tissues inside breast shrink, and the skin surrounding it doesn't, the breast can look 'empty' and saggy. Over time, some fat gets deposited back to the breast so it will look somewhat fuller but sagging usually remains.
Will bras keep the breasts from sagging?
Bras will keep your breasts from sagging while you're wearing them - but not for the remainder of time. There is no published medical literature showing that bras prevent sagging. Even the bra industry seems to know this, as the following quote illustrates:
"We have no evidence that wearing a bra could prevent sagging, because the breast itself is not muscle, so keeping it toned up is an impossibility. What it can do, particularly for larger-breasted women, is obviously to provide the comfort and the support. So, if a woman wants a particular breast profile, she will buy a particular brand, and that is what they're designed for. There's no permanent effect on the breast from wearing a particular bra. The bra will give you the shape the bra's been designed to give while you're wearing it. Of course, when you take it off, you go 'au natural.' "
executive John Dixey at Bras, Bare Facts documentary
However, there is some support for the idea that breasts in bras actually sag more (when bra is taken off). How could that be since the main idea of bras is to lift the breasts upward? The main idea is that the ligaments which support breasts in normal circumstances, would atrophy (get thinner and weaker) when breasts are immobilized within bras and don't have to bear their own weight.
There are lots of studies showing that ligaments and tendons in limbs do atrophy when the limb is immobilized. Bras obviously prevent the the natural slight up-down movement of breasts when we walk, and let shoulders bear the weight of breasts. If breast ligaments behave like limb ligaments, it may be a matter of"use it or lose it".
The only study ever published on the subject of bras and sagging was done in 1991, in Japan. The study suggests that a bra can actually increase breast sagging rather than the opposite. The abstract says (emphasis mine):
"Eleven adult female subjects aged 22-39 years wore a certain brassiere for 3 months while anthropometry and moire fringe photographs on the anterior trunk were taken regularly once a week. After the 3 months, the brassiere was not worn for another 3 months. Then the measurements and photogrammetry were repeated for comparison using superimposed moire configurations. The results are summarized as follows. Regardless of slim or obese trunk, subjects with pendent breasts showed the highest degree of breast form "correction" from wearing the brassiere. In all subjects, after 3 months of brassiere constraint, the underbust circumference was smaller but the chest circumference became enlarged, the distance between the right and left nipples became wider, and the breasts tended to hang down. This change was more marked in obese subjects with pendent breasts. And when this type of subject wore a "well-fitted" brassiere for a long time, her breast form became developed, that is, her breasts hung down more."
Ashizawa K, Sugane A, Gunji T Institute of Human Living Sciences, Otsuma Women's University, Tokyo, Japan: Breast Form Changes Resulting From A Certain Brassiere Journal of Hum. Ergol.(Tokyo) 1990 Jun; 19(1):53-62.
The unspoken rules of the society may force you to wear a bra to work or to social occasions, but there's no need to wear one for the purpose of preventing sagging. It just won't work. Remember also that breasts will benefit from bra-free time, so it is good to take the bra off whenever you can.
Could sagging be better for breast health?
Fashion magazines and ads may cause you to think that pert, hard breasts are more optimal, but some research suggests that the opposite is true and that saggier breasts might be healthier.
Note: The following facts 1. - 5. are just suggesting that sagging/soft breasts might be healthier in the long run - don't take this as definitely proven.
1. Dense breasts have comparatively more fibrous and connecting tissue and less fatty tissue than soft breasts. It is commonly noted that dense breasts have higher breast cancer rates. Also, dense breasts produce mammograms that are harder to read, which means that a mammogram should detect a cancer easier in less firm breasts.
2. It is also widely known that breastfeeding and childbirth reduce breast cancer risk. Could this be partly connected to the fact that after weaning the breasts undergo 'breast involution' and become softer?
3.Cycles of weight gain and loss can stretch the breasts and increase sagginess. Post-menopausal weight gain, but not weight loss, is associated with an increased breast cancer risk. Is the risk lower again because after weight loss the breasts are softer and 'saggier'?
4. Menopause brings a further decrease in breast density, because glandular tissue all but disappears, and much of the connective tissue degenerates, leaving a looser breast containing mostly soft tissue, which typically creates a softer profile. It is a proven fact that women who start menopause earlier have lower breast cancer risk. Could this be because their breasts acquire this healthier profile at an earlier age?
5. Although bras do not prevent sagging, they decrease breast movement, and presumably circulation. This may be one of many reasons for the success of the British study that showed that going braless reduced the symptoms of fibrocystic breast disease. Many studies have shown that exercise reduces breast cancer rates. Maybe exercise makes the breasts move more, and maybe the less dense breasts get more movement and bouncing, even while in bras, leading to a healthy increase in circulation and lymph drainage.
Given the known connections between breast density, childbearing, early menopause, fibrocystic, and breast cancer risk, it is certainly worth considering to make an epidemiological study looking at breast softness/sagginess versus breast cancer risk. That study could find that saggier breasts are healthier.
See below references to some of the scientific studies that support these ideas. You can find these and more studies supporting these thoughts from the National Library of Medicine's on-line database. However, further studies are needed in order to prove any final conclusions.
• High breast density is connected with increased rates of breast cancer.
Relationship between Mammographic Density and the Risk of Breast Cancer in Japanese Women: A Case-Control Study. Breast Cancer. 2000;10(3):228-33. Nagao Y, Kawaguchi Y, Sugiyama Y, Saji S, Kashiki Y.
• Dense breasts have more connective tissue.
Mammographic density is related to stroma and stromal proteoglycan expression. Breast Cancer Res. 2003;5(5):R129-35. Epub 2003 Jul 23. Alowami S, Troup S, Al-Haddad S, Kirkpatrick I, Watson PH.
• A low-fat diet decreases mammographic density; weight loss decreases density; and mmenopause decreases breast density.
Effects at two years of a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet on radiologic features of the breast: results from a randomized trial. Canadian Diet and Breast Cancer Prevention Study Group. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1997 Apr 2;89(7):488-96. Boyd NF, Greenberg C, Lockwood G, Little L, Martin L, Byng J, Yaffe M, Tritchler D.
• Breast density decreases with age and decreases with childbearing.
Analysis of parenchymal density on mammograms in 1353 women 25-79 years old. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1996 Nov;167(5):1261-5. Stomper PC, D'Souza DJ, DiNitto PA, Arredondo MA.
• Menopause decreases breast density.
A longitudinal study of the effects of menopause on mammographic features. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2002 Oct;11(10 Pt 1):1048-53. Boyd N, Martin L, Stone J, Little L, Minkin S, Yaffe M.
• Dense breasts make mammography less accurate. Mammograms are more accurate in older women.
Individual and combined effects of age, breast density, and hormone replacement therapy use on the accuracy of screening mammography. Ann Intern Med. 2003 Feb 4;138(3):168-75. Carney PA, Miglioretti DL, Yankaskas BC, Kerlikowske K, Rosenberg R, Rutter CM, Geller BM, Abraham LA, Taplin SH, Dignan M, Cutter G, Ballard-Barbash R.
• Mammography is more difficult for diagnosing in dense breasts; survival is less for breast cancer in dense breasts:
Breast cancer: zones of increased density mammographic features, correlated to clinical TNM and prognosis. Eur J Radiol. 1997 Jan;24(1):48-53. Langer-Cherbit A, Le Gal M, Asselain B, Neuenschwander S.
• "All of the studies reviewed revealed evidence of a linkage between obesity and breast cancer."
The relationship between obesity and breast cancer. ABNF J. 2003 May-Jun;14(3):61-5. Adderley-Kelly B, Williams-Stephens E.
What causes sagging of breasts?
Sagging or drooping of breasts is a natural, inevitable process that happens to all women at some point - except those with fairly small breasts. The most notable sagging happens with the process called breast involution (see below), but breasts can start drooping a little at any age, because they do NOT have muscles in them. They have ligaments and connective tissue. When the gravity pulls the breasts down, those ligaments and the skin can stretch, and so the breast then droops. This depends on the elasticity of your skin and of your ligaments, as determined by your genes and diet, and also on normal aging processes. Obviously large breasts will sag easier since the gravity is pulling them down more.
Breast involution is a process where the milk-making system inside the breast shrinks because it's not needed anymore. This happens either after weaning, or right after pregnancy if you don't breastfeed at all, or during menopause. When the tissues inside breast shrink, and the skin surrounding it doesn't, the breast can look 'empty' and saggy. Over time, some fat gets deposited back to the breast so it will look somewhat fuller but sagging usually remains.
Will bras keep the breasts from sagging?
Bras will keep your breasts from sagging while you're wearing them - but not for the remainder of time. There is no published medical literature showing that bras prevent sagging. Even the bra industry seems to know this, as the following quote illustrates:
"We have no evidence that wearing a bra could prevent sagging, because the breast itself is not muscle, so keeping it toned up is an impossibility. What it can do, particularly for larger-breasted women, is obviously to provide the comfort and the support. So, if a woman wants a particular breast profile, she will buy a particular brand, and that is what they're designed for. There's no permanent effect on the breast from wearing a particular bra. The bra will give you the shape the bra's been designed to give while you're wearing it. Of course, when you take it off, you go 'au natural.' "
executive John Dixey at Bras, Bare Facts documentary
However, there is some support for the idea that breasts in bras actually sag more (when bra is taken off). How could that be since the main idea of bras is to lift the breasts upward? The main idea is that the ligaments which support breasts in normal circumstances, would atrophy (get thinner and weaker) when breasts are immobilized within bras and don't have to bear their own weight.
There are lots of studies showing that ligaments and tendons in limbs do atrophy when the limb is immobilized. Bras obviously prevent the the natural slight up-down movement of breasts when we walk, and let shoulders bear the weight of breasts. If breast ligaments behave like limb ligaments, it may be a matter of"use it or lose it".
The only study ever published on the subject of bras and sagging was done in 1991, in Japan. The study suggests that a bra can actually increase breast sagging rather than the opposite. The abstract says (emphasis mine):
"Eleven adult female subjects aged 22-39 years wore a certain brassiere for 3 months while anthropometry and moire fringe photographs on the anterior trunk were taken regularly once a week. After the 3 months, the brassiere was not worn for another 3 months. Then the measurements and photogrammetry were repeated for comparison using superimposed moire configurations. The results are summarized as follows. Regardless of slim or obese trunk, subjects with pendent breasts showed the highest degree of breast form "correction" from wearing the brassiere. In all subjects, after 3 months of brassiere constraint, the underbust circumference was smaller but the chest circumference became enlarged, the distance between the right and left nipples became wider, and the breasts tended to hang down. This change was more marked in obese subjects with pendent breasts. And when this type of subject wore a "well-fitted" brassiere for a long time, her breast form became developed, that is, her breasts hung down more."
Ashizawa K, Sugane A, Gunji T Institute of Human Living Sciences, Otsuma Women's University, Tokyo, Japan: Breast Form Changes Resulting From A Certain Brassiere Journal of Hum. Ergol.(Tokyo) 1990 Jun; 19(1):53-62.
The unspoken rules of the society may force you to wear a bra to work or to social occasions, but there's no need to wear one for the purpose of preventing sagging. It just won't work. Remember also that breasts will benefit from bra-free time, so it is good to take the bra off whenever you can.
Could sagging be better for breast health?
Fashion magazines and ads may cause you to think that pert, hard breasts are more optimal, but some research suggests that the opposite is true and that saggier breasts might be healthier.
Note: The following facts 1. - 5. are just suggesting that sagging/soft breasts might be healthier in the long run - don't take this as definitely proven.
1. Dense breasts have comparatively more fibrous and connecting tissue and less fatty tissue than soft breasts. It is commonly noted that dense breasts have higher breast cancer rates. Also, dense breasts produce mammograms that are harder to read, which means that a mammogram should detect a cancer easier in less firm breasts.
2. It is also widely known that breastfeeding and childbirth reduce breast cancer risk. Could this be partly connected to the fact that after weaning the breasts undergo 'breast involution' and become softer?
3.Cycles of weight gain and loss can stretch the breasts and increase sagginess. Post-menopausal weight gain, but not weight loss, is associated with an increased breast cancer risk. Is the risk lower again because after weight loss the breasts are softer and 'saggier'?
4. Menopause brings a further decrease in breast density, because glandular tissue all but disappears, and much of the connective tissue degenerates, leaving a looser breast containing mostly soft tissue, which typically creates a softer profile. It is a proven fact that women who start menopause earlier have lower breast cancer risk. Could this be because their breasts acquire this healthier profile at an earlier age?
5. Although bras do not prevent sagging, they decrease breast movement, and presumably circulation. This may be one of many reasons for the success of the British study that showed that going braless reduced the symptoms of fibrocystic breast disease. Many studies have shown that exercise reduces breast cancer rates. Maybe exercise makes the breasts move more, and maybe the less dense breasts get more movement and bouncing, even while in bras, leading to a healthy increase in circulation and lymph drainage.
Given the known connections between breast density, childbearing, early menopause, fibrocystic, and breast cancer risk, it is certainly worth considering to make an epidemiological study looking at breast softness/sagginess versus breast cancer risk. That study could find that saggier breasts are healthier.
See below references to some of the scientific studies that support these ideas. You can find these and more studies supporting these thoughts from the National Library of Medicine's on-line database. However, further studies are needed in order to prove any final conclusions.
• High breast density is connected with increased rates of breast cancer.
Relationship between Mammographic Density and the Risk of Breast Cancer in Japanese Women: A Case-Control Study. Breast Cancer. 2000;10(3):228-33. Nagao Y, Kawaguchi Y, Sugiyama Y, Saji S, Kashiki Y.
• Dense breasts have more connective tissue.
Mammographic density is related to stroma and stromal proteoglycan expression. Breast Cancer Res. 2003;5(5):R129-35. Epub 2003 Jul 23. Alowami S, Troup S, Al-Haddad S, Kirkpatrick I, Watson PH.
• A low-fat diet decreases mammographic density; weight loss decreases density; and mmenopause decreases breast density.
Effects at two years of a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet on radiologic features of the breast: results from a randomized trial. Canadian Diet and Breast Cancer Prevention Study Group. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1997 Apr 2;89(7):488-96. Boyd NF, Greenberg C, Lockwood G, Little L, Martin L, Byng J, Yaffe M, Tritchler D.
• Breast density decreases with age and decreases with childbearing.
Analysis of parenchymal density on mammograms in 1353 women 25-79 years old. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1996 Nov;167(5):1261-5. Stomper PC, D'Souza DJ, DiNitto PA, Arredondo MA.
• Menopause decreases breast density.
A longitudinal study of the effects of menopause on mammographic features. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2002 Oct;11(10 Pt 1):1048-53. Boyd N, Martin L, Stone J, Little L, Minkin S, Yaffe M.
• Dense breasts make mammography less accurate. Mammograms are more accurate in older women.
Individual and combined effects of age, breast density, and hormone replacement therapy use on the accuracy of screening mammography. Ann Intern Med. 2003 Feb 4;138(3):168-75. Carney PA, Miglioretti DL, Yankaskas BC, Kerlikowske K, Rosenberg R, Rutter CM, Geller BM, Abraham LA, Taplin SH, Dignan M, Cutter G, Ballard-Barbash R.
• Mammography is more difficult for diagnosing in dense breasts; survival is less for breast cancer in dense breasts:
Breast cancer: zones of increased density mammographic features, correlated to clinical TNM and prognosis. Eur J Radiol. 1997 Jan;24(1):48-53. Langer-Cherbit A, Le Gal M, Asselain B, Neuenschwander S.
• "All of the studies reviewed revealed evidence of a linkage between obesity and breast cancer."
The relationship between obesity and breast cancer. ABNF J. 2003 May-Jun;14(3):61-5. Adderley-Kelly B, Williams-Stephens E.