Hair-straightening products can cause uterine cancer? Here's what research says

A recent study has found an unusual cause of uterine cancer. The National Institute of Environmental Health Safety (NIEHS) of the United States has published a study that suggests people who regularly use hair-straightening products may have a much higher chance of developing uterine cancer.

Uterine cancer is prevalent in the US, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the study, people who frequently use hair-straightening treatments have a more than two-fold increased likelihood of developing uterine cancer.

One of the authors in the research, Alexandra White, noted that, "We estimated that 1.64% of women who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70, but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05%."

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33,947 racially diverse women between the ages of 35 and 74 were studied by researchers for an average of around 11 years. Uterine cancer struck 378 women during that time. After taking into consideration the other risk factors of the participants, the odds of having uterine cancer were more than 2.5 times greater for women who had used straightening products more than four times in the previous year.

The risk of uterine cancer was also increased by less frequent straightener usage over the previous year, although this association was not statistically significant, suggesting that it could have simply been a coincidence.

Although the brand and components of the hair products the women used were not recorded by the researchers, it was stated in the report that a number of chemicals present in straightening products, including parabens, bisphenol A, metals, and formaldehyde, may be elevating the risk of uterine cancer.

Previous research has demonstrated the presence of so-called endocrine disruptive substances in hair straighteners. Previous studies have linked the products to increased risks of ovarian and breast cancer.

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(With inputs from Reuters)