The goal of this post is to provide an overview of the health risks that come with the regular use of most deodorants and all antiperspirants.
I will especially focus on the aluminum in antiperspirants and the connection between deodorants, parabens and breast cancer.
Since my right breast mastectomy back on September 23rd, I have not used deodorant. The safe deodorant that I bought is in the bathroom but to be perfectly honest, I don't know if I will ever use it.
If you have to choose between the lesser of two evils, pick a deodorant over an antiperspirant.
Sweating and Body Odor
Sweating is your body’s mechanism to cool down. The average person has about 2.6 million sweat glands, and sweat glands come in two types: eccrine and apocrine.
Eccrine – The majority of sweat glands on your body are eccrine, these are the glands you have on your forehead, on your hands and on your feet. The eccrine glands are active from birth, and produce sweat free of proteins and fatty acids.
Apocrine – These glands are in your arm pits and in your genital area. The apocrine glands usually end in hair follicles and become active during puberty. The sweat produced by the apocrine glands contains proteins and fatty acids.
Sweat has no odor, the familiar unpleasant odor is caused by bacteria that live on our skin and hair. These bacteria metabolize the proteins and fatty acids from our apocrine sweat, causing body odor.
Deodorants deal with the smell by neutralizing it and by killing the bacteria that metabolize the proteins and fatty acids.
Antiperspirants on the other hand, try to prevent sweating by blocking the pores using aluminum. Without sweat, the bacteria cannot metabolize proteins and fatty acids that cause body odor.
The Semantics of Deodorants and Antiperspirants
Many antiperspirants also have a deodorant component. It might be for this reason that ‘deodorant’ and ‘antiperspirant’ are used interchangeably.
There are deodorants available that do not have the harmful ingredients, but only have safe natural ingredients. These deodorants may cost a little more but are safe.
Antiperspirants – The Over-The-Counter Drug
It might be a surprise to learn that the antiperspirant you use daily is in fact an over-the-counter (OTC) drug. As mentioned, antiperspirants work by clogging, closing, or blocking the pores with aluminum salts in order to prevent the release of sweat, effectively changing the function of the body. Antiperspirants are considered to be drugs because they affect the physiology of the body.
Because antiperspirants are drugs, they are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Consequently, every antiperspirant sold in the US has a Drug Identification Number (DIN), which you can find on the label. A document called ‘monograph’ states requirements for categories of nonprescription drugs such as antiperspirants. It defines for example what ingredients may be used and for what intended use. If the standards of the OTC monograph are met, premarket approval of a potentially new OTC product is not necessary.
The active ingredient for antiperspirants: aluminum. Most antiperspirants also contain paraben, an ingredient that is also used in deodorants.
Deodorants
As mentioned, deodorants deal with body odor by neutralizing the smell and by killing the bacteria that metabolize the proteins and fatty acids that occur in sweat.
In the last decade one particular ingredient in deodorants has become controversial: paraben, a widely used preservative.
Note: parabens were banned in the European Union and Japan 10 years ago. Why parabens have not been banned in the US is beyond my comprehension.
Deodorants and Antiperspirants are Considered to be Safe
Both antiperspirants and deodorants are considered to be safe by the FDA, the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute and the Mayo Clinic.
However, FDA regulation does not mean that a drug is without danger. Like prescription drugs, the FDA oversees OTC drugs to ensure that they are properly labeled and that their benefits outweigh their risks.
There are many products or ingredients of products that have become controversial in regards to health effects. However, this does not mean that products will be taken off the market until deemed safe. Often, the FDA does not consider the evidence of danger to consumer’s health strong enough to take action.
If you want to research some of the bad decisions the FDA has made in the past, then Google some examples of product that only got pulled off the shelves when it became too obvious that people were dying due to heart attacks caused by these medications: ‘Vioxx’, ‘Celebrex’ and ‘Bextra’. The conclusion of this debacle according to leading cardiologist Dr. Eric Topol:
"Neither of the two major forces in this 5-and-a-half-year affair — neither Merck nor the FDA — fulfilled its responsibilities to the public."
We have to educate ourselves rather than having to rely on often well-meaning but sometimes misdirected organizations.
Aluminum
Aluminum chloride, aluminum chlorohydrate, and aluminum-zirconium compounds, most notably aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly and aluminum zirconium trichlorohydrex gly, are the most widely used in antiperspirants. Most of these materials are supplied as powders, and they are typically used at levels of 8-25% based on the weight of the finished product.
As stated by the FDA: Antiperspirants have an aluminum-based compound as their main, “active” ingredient, which can be any number of compounds within an established concentration and dosage form.
Aluminum, also known as aluminium, has the symbol Al and its atomic number is 13. It is the most abundant metallic element in the Earth’s crust (believed to be 7.5 to 8.1 percent). Aluminum has been produced in commercial quantities for just over 100 years.
We are continually exposed to aluminum due to its many uses. It is often used in cooking utensils, containers, appliances, and building materials. It is also used in paints and fireworks; to produce glass, rubber, and ceramics; and in consumer products such as antacids, astringents, buffered aspirin, food additives, and antiperspirants. Another use for aluminum is in water purification, and it can therefore occur in your drinking water.
Studies on mice have found that the absorption of aluminum through the skin causes a greater burden on the body than oral ingestion. Humans also absorb aluminum through the skin: a 2001 study showed that aluminum was still present in blood samples 15 days after one application of aluminum to the armpit. Consequently, applying aluminum to the skin is a very effective way to get aluminum in your system, and in your brain ...
Aluminum was first recognized as a human neurotoxin in 1886, before being used as an antiperspirant. A neurotoxin is a substance that causes damage to nerves or nerve tissue.
Aluminum as a Neurotoxin: linked to Alzheimer and other neurological diseases
Post-mortem analysis of Alzheimer’s infected brains has shown increased levels of aluminum compared to people that did not die from Alzheimer’s.
C Exley, PhD., has focused his research on the ways in which aluminum impacts life on earth, he states in ‘Aluminum in Antiperspirants: More Than Just Skin Deep’:
"... We now know that transdermal uptake of aluminum is not only possible but may also be important. We should not be as quick to discard this possibility as we probably were to discount the absorption of aluminum across the skin and, indeed, as many have been to reject a role for aluminum in chronic diseases such as Alzheimer disease."
When using antiperspirants, one only applies very little aluminum to the skin. However, daily use results in chronic exposure to aluminum. One study has asserted that the use of aluminum based antiperspirants increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 60%.
In the monograph for antiperspirants, the FDA states:
"... several citizen petitions have raised concerns about the amount of aluminum absorbed from topical antiperspirant drug products. The agency has no data showing that products containing up to 35 percent aluminum chlorhydrates or aluminum zirconium chlorhydrates increase aluminum absorption and is not revising the monograph to provide for powder roll-on dosage forms containing up to 35 percent antiperspirant active ingredient, without additional safety data being provided."
Above, the agency states it “has no data showing” the “increase [of] aluminum absorption”. Notice that the FDA does not state that it has data that shows there is no absorption of the neurotoxin aluminum.
Rather than ordering research that proves safety, the FDA will not act on information it deems to have insufficient support instead it claims that:
"... the majority of researchers investigating the [cause or origin] of Alzheimer’s disease would consider current evidence insufficient to link aluminum to Alzheimer’s disease ... current scientific information does not support the need to reclassify the safety of aluminum-containing antiperspirants."
There is an established link between aluminum intake and Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders, contrary to what the FDA implies. Flaten states in a 2001 Brain Research Bulletin that considerable evidence exists that aluminum may play a role in the cause/origin or in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the question that is still open to debate is whether aluminum is the main cause of Alzheimer’s.
As Exley states in ‘Does antiperspirant use increase the risk of aluminium-related disease, including Alzheimer’s disease?’:
"... as the frequent use of aluminium-based antiperspirants has been linked to a higher incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, manufacturers of these products cannot afford to be complacent."
When looking into subjects that involve health, you will notice that there are often contradictions between the findings of researchers and the information that is distributed by main stream organizations like (in this case) the FDA and the Alzheimer’s Association.
I assumed that all products on the supermarket shelves were vetted and deemed safe. It turns out that this is often not the case, I also found that ‘harmless’ or in FDA terms ‘Generally Recognized As Safe’ (GRAS) is highly subjective.
GRAS means that there are no ingredients that have obvious severe short term side effects. GRAS does not mean that a product is safe for the long term – How would the FDA test the long term impact of any product? The FDA’s main goals are risk management and correct labeling of products. As stated in 1999 report from the FDA’s ‘Task Force on Risk Management’:
"The Agency approves a product when it judges that the benefits of using a product outweigh the risks for the intended population and use. A major goal of the premarketing review is to ensure that products are truthfully and adequately labeled for the population and use. Labeling is given considerable emphasis because it is the chief tool the Agency uses to communicate risk and benefit to the healthcare community and patients."
Once medical products are on the market, however, ensuring safety is principally the responsibility of healthcare providers and patients, who make risk decisions on an individual, rather than a population, basis. They are expected to use the labeling information to select and use products wisely, thereby minimizing adverse events.
When the FDA makes a GRAS claim about for example antiperspirants, it does not mean that the product has proven to be safe. It merely means that according to the FDA, the product is not harmful enough to prevent it from being sold.
Aluminum in Antiperspirants linked to Breast Cancer
Antiperspirants/deodorants are being linked to breast cancer in several studies. There is a link between the aluminum component in antiperspirants and breast cancer. There is a link between parabens in deodorant and breast cancer.
Breast Cancer at an Earlier Age
McGrath states a scientific article titled ‘An earlier age of breast cancer diagnosis related to more frequent use of antiperspirants/deodorants and underarm shaving’:
"The data from this study are consistent with the hypothesis that the degree of antiperspirant/deodorant usage and axillary shaving is associated with an earlier age of breast cancer diagnosis."
The study concludes in part:
"... underarm shaving with antiperspirant/deodorant use may play a role in breast cancer. It is not clear which of these components are involved. Reviewed literature insinuates absorption of aluminium salts facilitated by dermal barrier disruption."
The series of events that eventually cause breast cancer can start many years before the symptoms become noticeable. Studies indicate that the chance of developing breast cancer increases when women are exposed to cancer causing agents at a young age. Consequently, young girls that use antiperspirants/deodorants are more likely to develop breast cancer later in life.
However, this does not mean that the use of antiperspirants/deodorants is not harmful when it is used later in life.
The Role of Antiperspirants in Causing Cancer
In the September 2005 issue of the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, Darbre published an article titled “Aluminium, Antiperspirants and Breast Cancer”. Darbre states:
"Aluminium is known to have a genotoxic profile, capable of causing both DNA alterations and epigenetic effects, and this would be consistent with a potential role in breast cancer if such effects occurred in breast cells.
and ...
Results reported [in this study] demonstrate that aluminium in the form of aluminium chloride or aluminium chlorhydrate can interfere with the function of oestrogen receptors of MCF7 human breast cancer cells both in terms of ligand binding and in terms of oestrogen-regulated reporter gene expression."
Darbre concludes that the application of aluminum containing antiperspirants results in aluminum absorption though the skin, and that the frequent application provides a relevant portion of the aluminum that the body has to deal with.
In another article titled ‘Underarm Cosmetics and Breast Cancer’ Darbre explains that two steps are needed to cause cancer:
1 – DNA has to be damaged, resulting in damaged cells.
2 – Growth promotion of these damaged cells.
There are several ways that DNA could be damaged as a result of using antiperspirants. According to one theory, it is caused by accumulating sweat through the use of antiperspirants. Your body normally exposes of waste products through sweat, the accumulation of these toxic waste products in the armpit can cause damage to the adjacent breast cells.
Another mechanism that can help cause DNA damage is through the aluminum and zirconium salts. It has been shown that aluminum can bind to DNA and change it, resulting in damaged breast cells.
The promotion of the growth of the damaged cells can be caused by another ingredient of antiperspirants / deodorants: parabens.
Darbre states that more research is needed to scientifically prove the link between antiperspirants/deodorants and breast cancer. She also states that “The nature of the chemicals in these [antiperspirants] and the lack of any advice about safe quantity or frequency of application should be of concern.”
Breast Cancer Location and Antiperspirants/Deodorant
The majority of breast cancers occur in the part of the breast that is the closest to the armpit, where we apply antiperspirants and deodorants. This location is referred to as the Upper Outer Quadrant (UOQ).
However, the relationship between the breast cancer location and antiperspirants/deodorant is disputed. In 2005, Andrew H.S. Lee published the results of a study in ‘The Breast’. His conclusion is that the “high proportion of upper outer quadrant [cancer] of the breasts is a reflection of the greater amount of breast tissue in this quadrant”. Lee does acknowledge that “[t]here are unresolved questions relating to the toxicological links between underarm cosmetics and breast cancer”, in his conclusion Lee states that his results “cannot disprove the hypothesis that underarm cosmetics cause breast cancer”.
What Lee does not take into account, is that the proportion of breast cancer in the UOQ has been rising steadily with the increased use of antiperspirants and deodorants. In 1926, 31% of breast cancers occurred in the UOQ, in 1947-1967 this percentage increased to 43-48%. Currently the majority of breast cancers occurs in the part of the breast that is the closest to the armpit: 60.7% in 1994.
USA breast cancer incidence and antiperspirant/deodorant sales (Roush et al., 1987; SEER Cancer Incidence Public-Use Database, 2001; US Cosmetic and Toiletries Market, 2001).
The findings of a recent study on the UOQ issue, were published in 2007 in the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. The article titled ‘Aluminium in Human Breast Tissue’, shows the results of a study that measured the aluminum content in breast tissue. A small excerpt from this article:
"We have confirmed the presence of aluminium in breast tissue and its possible regional distribution within the breast. Higher content of aluminium in the outer breast might be explained by this region’s closer proximity to the underarm where the highest density of application of antiperspirant could be assumed. There is evidence that skin is permeable to aluminium when applied as antiperspirant. However, we have no direct evidence that the aluminium measured in these breast biopsies originated from antiperspirant.
and ...
we should not neglect the possibility that aluminium in breast tissue might contribute towards breast cancer."
Several recent and respected studies have shown the relationship between antiperspirants/deodorants and breast cancer, some of which have been presented in this post. Yet all government and (breast) cancer organizations will tell you that antiperspirants are safe, or do they ...
The ‘Official’ Version
Reading about antiperspirants on the FDA website, should make you feel better. The FDA starts reassuring you by giving the ‘Antiperspirant and Cancer’ section the title ‘The Cancer Myth‘. Phew, this article must be wrong after all.
A few quotes from the FDA web page I am referring to:
"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.
and ...
... the [National Cancer Institute] 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."
The FDA does not mention the harmful effects of aluminum, but more importantly, the FDA does not state that it found antiperspirants to be harmless. It instead refers to the opinion of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
So lets take a look at what the NCI has to say. The NCI provides a page titled ‘Antiperspirants/Deodorants and Breast Cancer: Questions and Answers‘. A few quotes:
[Question 1:] Can antiperspirants or deodorants cause breast cancer?
[Last part of the answer:] ... researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) ... are not aware of any conclusive evidence linking the use of underarm antiperspirants or deodorants and the subsequent development of breast cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ... also does not have any evidence or research data that ingredients in underarm antiperspirants or deodorants cause cancer."
Notice that there is no conclusive answer to the question. Also, the NCI is referring to the FDA as an authority, while the FDA based its answer on a reference to the NCI.
and ...
[Question 2:] What do scientists know about the ingredients in antiperspirants and deodorants?
[Last part of the answer:] ... More research is needed to specifically examine whether the use of deodorants or antiperspirants can cause the buildup of parabens and aluminum-based compounds in breast tissue.
One more ...
[Question 3:] What have scientists learned about the relationship between antiperspirants or deodorants and breast cancer?
[Last part of the answer:] ... Because studies of antiperspirants and deodorants and breast cancer have provided conflicting results, additional research is needed to investigate this relationship and other factors that may be involved.
After reading the statements made on the NCI website, it seems wrong for the FDA to refer to this issue as a ‘The Cancer Myth’. Notice that both the FDA and the NCI web page do not tell you that antiperspirants / deodorants are safe.
Another great example of governmental ‘information’, this time in Europe. The study on an earlier age of breast cancer diagnosis, has also been used by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP), part of the European Commission. The two lines that were devoted to this study are:
"Two recent epidemiological studies on the use of underarm cosmetics in relation to breast cancer exist. The authors of these studies could not establish a relationship between the use of underarm deodorants and antiperspirants and the occurrence of breast cancer."
The quote from the SCCP does not mention the conclusions of the study, instead the SCCP authors determine that the epidemiological study did not establish the mentioned relationship. However, reading the study leaves the reader with a different impression.
This goes to show that one has to be thorough when reading government documents, published studies and – of course – any other information.
Conclusion
As with many health issues, the theories presented are disputed. For many people it is incomprehensible that organizations like the FDA, the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute might be wrong or misleading.
All I will say is that it will be healthier for everybody to reach their own conclusions, rather than blindly adopting the point of view of any organization.
You might not be a doctor, but you probably have more common sense than most.
No comments:
Post a Comment