Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle blog, Goop, is promoting a bogus claim that bras may cause breast cancer.
Dr. Habib Sadeghi, who the actress has described as her "mentor" and a "super doctor," published a 2,700-word post during Breast Cancer Awareness Month about the long-discredited link, reported the Huffington Post.
The osteopathic physician cited as proof the 1995 book, "Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras," written by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer, a married team of medical anthropologists.
The authors, and Sadeghi, argued that wearing a bra all day compresses the breast's lymphatic system and causes cancer-causing toxins to accumulate.
"Free-flowing drainage throughout the entire lymphatic system is crucial for the body to quickly detoxify itself of waste products and any harmful or carcinogenic substances like PCBs, DDT, dioxin and benzene from the industrial world we live in," Sadeghi said.
That claim has never been backed by any scientifically valid study and -- according to The American Cancer Society and at least one OB-GYN -- is flatly ridiculous.
"Lymphatic obstruction is not a risk factor for cancer," wrote Jennifer Gunter, a San Francisco-area obstetrician-gynecologist. "If it were all the lymph node dissections done to save people from various cancers would paradoxically be killing them. We actually have mountains of data on outcomes after lymph node dissection, so if impeding lymph flow caused cancer we’d know."
Sadeghi -- who coined the widely mocked "conscious uncoupling" phrase -- also argues that bras raise body temperature, which he claims can increase the risk of breast cancer by altering hormone function.
He said the bra's metal underwire "comes into contact with two neuro-lymphatic reflex points on the body" that he claimed are closely linked to the liver, gall bladder and stomach.
"In recent years, yet another cancer-related concern has been raised about bras, particularly those with an underwire and their ability to magnify and sustain electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) and radiation from things like cell phones and Wi-Fi," Sadeghi argued. "While the fact that your bra could absorb and intensify radiation seems preposterous, it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds."
Gunter, however, argued that Sadeghi's claims are just as implausible as they sound.
"There is no science to back up a bra and breast cancer connection, never mind that the mechanism is biologically implausible," she wrote. "The myth has been debunked so many times I have lost track."
Sadeghi, as Gunter points out, "doesn’t think you should even have WiFi in your house."
"Ladies, wear your bra or don’t. Your choice," Gunter said. "Heck, wear it to bed if it’s comfortable. It’s all good. If it’s digging in get a fitting from an expert, not because it could be building up toxins but because everyone should know the joy of a well-fitted bra."