Women who douche almost twice as likely to get ovarian cancer: study

Before the self-cleaning oven there was the vagina. It’s got the job covered, thanks.

A Hygeine Habit May Double Risk of Ovarian Cancer

That’s no joke, since women who douche nearly double their risk of ovarian cancer, according to new a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences study.

It is the first study to link cancer of the ovaries with the cleansing practice used today by millions of American women. The reason why douching boosts odds for ovarian cancer, which 20,000 women get and 14,500 die from each year, is still under investigation.

What is known is that douching, which dates back to 1500 B.C., causes a surplus of harmful bacteria that can lead to yeast infections and push bacteria up into the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries.

 

 Douching has also previously been linked with pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancies, cervical cancer, reduced fertility and STDs. Despite such studies, Health and Human Services reports that 25% of women between the ages of 15 and 44 douche.

The NIEHS findings were arrived at by following 41,000 women in the U.S. and Puerto Rico since 2003. Subjects were between 35 and 74 years of age, each had a sister who’d been diagnosed with breast cancer, and were free of breast and ovarian cancer when they joined the study.

In July 2014, 154 subjects were found to have ovarian cancer. Women who reported that they douched the year before entering the study were almost twice as likely to have gotten ovarian cancer, the study found.

The link between douching and ovarian cancer was even stronger when researcher looked only at women who didn’t have breast-cancer genes in their family.

Further study is needed to explain the connection. Clarice Weinberg, lead author of the new study told Reuters, “There are a number of health reasons not to douche, and I can’t think of any reason to do it.”