Aluminium – and breast cancer?

How does your remove toxic compounds? Mainly by excreting them with other waste products, via urine or faeces. Your liver and kidneys do most of this work, with the kidneys eliminating more than 95% of aluminium from the body in healthy people.

Plus, although antiperspirants reduce the amount of sweat, they do not completely prevent sweating.¹

Aluminium occurs naturally in soil, water and air.

You will always have some exposure to low levels of aluminium from eating food, drinking water and breathing air. Some medicines also contain aluminium.

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) says that skin absorption of aluminium from antiperspirants is minimal and not harmful.²

'Unless you eat your stick or spray it into your mouth, your body can't absorb that much aluminium'.
Dr Leslie Spry, Kidney expert & NKF spokesperson

For example, a preliminary 2001 study³ found that only 0.012% of the aluminium in common antiperspirant ingredient aluminium chlorohydrate was absorbed through the skin.

A small 2018 study found that underarm use of an antiperspirant containing the same ingredient resulted in even less aluminium absorption through the skin (0.0094%)⁴,  as did a follow-up study  (0.00052%)⁵. The follow-up study also demonstrated that most of the aluminium in the formulation stayed on the external skin layers.

Studies have not found an association between deodorant or antiperspirant use and breast cancer risk.

According to the Australian Cancer Council, ‘there is no evidence to support the claim that deodorants or antiperspirants cause cancer. This link was first suggested in an email hoax, and rumours have circulated ever since.’⁶

An often-cited 2002 study of over 1600 women, half with breast cancer and half without, found no overall difference in the use of underarm products (or shaving practices) between the two groups.⁷

A 2008 review by a group of clinical cancer experts on whether there is evidence for a link between use of deodorants and antiperspirants was titled ‘The use of deodorants/antiperspirants does not constitute a risk factor for breast cancer’.⁸ The group concluded that ‘this question does not constitute a public health problem and that it therefore appears unnecessary to continue research on the subject’.

AICIS, the Australian regulator, evaluated the human health impacts of aluminium in antiperspirants in 2022. AICIS reviewed existing data and concluded that ‘the risk to the public from using aluminium in antiperspirants is considered to be low’.⁹ Other reputable organisations agree. The US National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society and Cancer Research UK, to name just a few. And, of course, the US National Kidney Foundation.  

And, the American Cancer Society states that there is no established evidence that using antiperspirant after shaving allows chemicals to enter the body from the armpit and increase. 

‘Deodorants and antiperspirants may contain chemicals such as parabens and aluminium compounds and are applied close to where breast cancer develops... However, studies have not found an association between these chemicals and breast cancer risk.’
Cancer Australia¹⁰