Factors that don't cause breast cancer

Many people believe that a blow or an injury to the breast can cause breast cancer, but this isn’t true. However, sometimes people will discover a lump because the discomfort from the injury causes them to check their breast.

No evidence exists to suggest that underwire bras cause cancer.

There's no evidence which suggests that carrying a mobile phone in your bra can cause breast cancer.

There is no evidence to link saline or silicone breast implants with an increased risk of breast cancer. The implants may make it slightly more difficult to see all of the breast tissue on a mammogram, but implant displacement techniques are used by radiographers to remedy this.

Textured silicone plants are associated with a small risk of a very rare cancer of the immune system called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), however further research is needed to understand this relationship. Read our blog post on ALCL.

There is no evidence to suggest that any type of deodorant or antiperspirant can cause breast cancer.

The scientific evidence does not support a link between breast cancer and abortion. Some case-control studies have suggested a link, but these studies rely on self-reporting of abortion and are prone to bias. Prospective cohort studies have not shown any causative link.

There is also no evidence to suggest that hair dyes, cell phone use or electromagnetic fields from wires and electronic devices cause breast cancer.

Studies around collagen in breast cancer are not conclusive. It does seem that cancer cells might spread through the collagen fibres that occur naturally within the breast. However, there is no evidence that dietary collagen supplements have any link to cancer – but this could be because widespread use of collagen supplements is relatively new and the studies haven’t been done yet.

The studies that have been completed have looked at the potential for dietary collagen to reach the skin. It does generally seem that dietary collagen can indeed reach the skin, and that’s why it seems to work nicely for some people from an anti-ageing perspective. There’s also some evidence that collagen supplements can relieve joint pain or help prevent osteoporosis, so it may therefore reach the bone / joints as well. That doesn’t necessarily mean it would reach the breast tissue or do anything significant (either helpful or harmful) when it gets there.

So for now, there’s no evidence to support a link between collagen supplements and breast cancer, but we don’t really know the answer.