The Beauty Brains and I Agree on Parabens

Have I mentioned my new favorite website? There are so many coming online every day that it’s hard to keep up. However there are very few good ones.



My new fave is The Beauty Brains. I signed up for their free newsletter about a month ago, and have to tell you, I love their approach to evaluating cosmetics and cosmetic claims.



Maybe that’s partly because they tend to agree with me :-) But also their writing is very clever and is founded in basic scientific research. YES!



The Left Brain is admittedly “The most hardcore skeptical scientist of all the Beauty Brains”. The Right Brain is “particularly skilled in interpreting advertising claims” and Sarah Bellum (get it?) focuses on aesthetics and “is more likely to find stories on the pages of People than Pubmed”.



The Beauty Brains recently responded to a question on the risk of parabens used as preservatives in cosmetics and are very much in line with my view expressed in response to a similar question.



At the risk of taking them out of context, my favorite quote from the Beauty Brains’ response is, “No matter how bad parabens are, microbes are much worse”.



Tags: Beauty Brains, paraben risk, research-based advice, FDA, cosmetic risks, anti-aging skin care

Do Parabens Cause Cancer?

Q: I am a breast cancer survivor. I recently read that parabens cause cancer. I looked through my makeup and medicine chest and almost every product I own contains them! Could they have caused my cancer?! It’s not in my family. The doctors can’t say “Why me”. If I continue to use them, do I risk a recurrence????? Please help.



Anne



P.S. Even brands that say they use all natural ingredients contain parabens. Are there any alternatives?



A: Please talk with your doctor about your concern. S/he knows the specifics of your breast cancer and whether it was estrogen-receptive. Here are some issues and facts you should familiarize yourself with. When concerns are first raised by study results, the popular press and consumers typically raise red flags without a thorough understanding of the study itself.



Scientists, on the other hand, begin to examine the study design, sample composition and size, procedural integrity and conclusions. Typically, if after such peer review, scientists believe the study raises a legitimate concern, they will design further/better studies to confirm or disprove the earlier studies’ conclusions.



Unfortunately, all this takes time and in the meantime, consumers may have been unduly alarmed. The popular conclusion that parabens cause breast cancer involves many blind leaps from a few small studies. These studies do deserve follow-up and a “connecting of the dots” before we will know whether, in fact, parabens are a causative factor for any cancers.



At this point, the evidence is very tenuous. Read the rest of my report on The Risk of Parabens.



[This article is for informational purposes only. It does not purport to offer medical advice. Please consult a qualified physician.]



Tags: paraben safety, cosmetic preservatives, causes of cancer