Using chemical products to straighten hair could increase uterine cancer risk –Study

Amarachi Okeh

A new study has indicated that there’s a link between the use of hair straightening products and the risk of developing uterine cancer.

The study conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, using certain hair straightening products, such as chemical relaxers and pressing products revealed that the use of some of the products can increase a woman’s chances of developing uterine cancer.

Previous studies have shown links that such chemical hair products are known to contain endocrine disruptors and carcinogenic properties that can increase the risk of hormone-sensitive cancers like breast and ovarian cancers in women, however, no study has examined the relationship between such products and uterine cancer, hence the study, the researchers said.

Uterine cancer occurs when abnormal cells develop in the uterus and begin growing out of control, experts say.

There are two main types of uterine cancer. Endometrial cancer begins in the lining of the uterus (endometrium) and accounts for about 95 per cent of all cases; uterine sarcomas, which develops in the muscle tissue (myometrium), and is a rarer form of uterine cancer, Australian Cancer Organisation explained.

For the largely racially diverse study which included 7.4 per cent Black/African American, 4.4 per cent Hispanic/Latina Non-Black, 85.6 per cent non-Hispanic White, and 2.5 per cent of all other races and ethnicity, the researchers recruited 33,947 women with uterus within the ages of 35 – 74 years between 2003 – 2009.

According to a report published by the National Institutes of Health, the participants self-reported their use of hair products in the prior 12 months, including hair dyes; straighteners, relaxers, or pressing products; and permanents or body waves.

After an average of 10.9 years of following up with the participants, uterine cancer was identified in 378 women.

The research estimated that only 1.6 per cent of women who did not use a hair straightening chemical products in the past 12 months developed uterine cancer by age 70.

While four per cent of women who frequently (more than 4 times a year, according to the study) use such hair-straightening products developed uterine cancer by age 70.

The research also showed that the association between hair straightening products and uterine cancer cases was most profound in black women, who made up only 7.4 per cent of the study participants, but 59.9 per cent of those who reported using straighteners.

Speaking on the study, one of the authors and researcher at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Chandra Jackson told Cable News Network that “The bottom line is that the exposure burden appears higher among Black women.

“Based on the body of the literature in this area, we know that hair products marketed directly to Black children and women have been shown to contain multiple chemicals associated with disrupting hormones, and these products marketed to Black women have also been shown to have harsher chemical formulations,” she said.

“On top of that, we know that Black women tend to use multiple products simultaneously, which could contribute to Black women on average having higher concentrations of these hormone-disrupting chemicals in their system.”