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(CNN) – Women who color their hair at home are unlikely to be at increased risk of cancer, according to the findings of a new study published Wednesday.
Researchers have been looking at a possible connection between hair dye and certain types of cancer for years, but while the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency has classified occupational exposure to hair dyes hair as a probable carcinogen, there is no warning about using it because the evidence is not conclusive.
This latest study published in the medical journal BMJ analyzed data from 117,200 nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, which included details about their exposure to hair dye.
The women did not have cancer at the beginning of the study and were followed for 36 years.
The results did not show an increased risk of most cancers or of dying from cancer in women who reported using permanent hair dyes compared to those who said they had never used such dyes.
“The main result is that, overall, there is no difference in the overall cancer rate between women who have used hair dyes and those who have not,” said Paul Pharoah, professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Cambridge. , in United States. Kingdom. She did not participate in the investigation.
Specifically, the study found that the use of hair dyes did not increase the risk of bladder, brain, colon, kidney, lung, blood, and immune system cancers, or most skin or breast cancers.
However, the use of permanent dyes was associated with a slightly higher risk of basal cell carcinoma of the skin, and this risk was higher in women with naturally light hair, according to the study.
Additionally, an increased risk of ovarian cancer and three types of breast cancer (estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, and hormone receptor negative) were also associated with the use of permanent dyes, with the risk increasing based on the amount accumulated of coloring. women were exposed.
An increased risk of Hodgkin lymphoma was also seen with the use of permanent hair dye, but only in women with naturally dark hair.
The authors said that darker shades of permanent hair dye could be associated with a higher concentration of ingredients.
The most aggressive hair dyes are the permanent type, accounting for approximately 80% of the hair dyes used in the US and Europe, and an even higher proportion in Asia.
For cancers in which the study reported an increased risk, “the results are not convincing,” Pharoah told the Science Media Center.
“The reported associations are very weak, and given the number of associations reported in this manuscript, it is highly likely that they are chance findings,” he said.
“Even if they were real findings, the associations may not be cause and effect, and even if they were causal associations, the magnitude of the effects is so small that any risk would be trivial.”
Hair dye is estimated to be used by 50% to 80% of women and 10% of men aged 40 and over in the United States and Europe, according to the study.
The authors said in a press release that their findings should “offer some reassurance in the face of concerns that personal use of permanent hair dyes may be associated with an increased risk of cancer or mortality.”
The study was observational, so it could not establish cause and effect.
The authors also highlighted some limitations, including a lack of racial diversity in the participants, who mainly included white American women of European descent. They added that other unmeasured factors, such as the use of other products, may have affected the results.
This story was first published on CNN.com ‘Homemade hair dye products have no link to most cancers, according to study’
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