Using Hair Dye May Increase Lymphoma Risk

Filed in archive Studies on July 6, 2006

Oh, the price we pay to be beautiful. Data collected in a recent European study suggests that using hair dye may increase a person's chances of developing lymphoma, a type of cancer. According to an article on CNN.com, the research was led by Dr. Silvia de Sanjose at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. de Sanjose and her colleagues contributed their findings in an article that appears in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of epidemiology.

Dr. de Sanjose and her team noted that past studies had found a correlation between hair dye use and lymphoma. The team explored the cancer/hair dye connection by studying a large sample of lymphoma patients matched against healthy controls. The sample included 4,719 participants came from six different European countries. Roughly three-quarters of the female participants used hair color, while about 7 percent of the men did.

The researchers found that found that those who used hair dye had a 19 percent higher risk of developing lymphoma. Those who used hair color more than 12 times per year had an increased lymphoma risk of about 26 percent.

The researchers also found that those who started using hair coloring before 1980 were at an even higher risk of developing lymphoma. Specifically, the participants who started dying their hair before 1980 had a 37 percent increased risk, while those who dyed their hair before 1980, but not afterwards, had raised their risk by 62 percent. The researchers noted that between 1978 and 1982, the ingredients in hair dyes were changed to remove potential carcinogens. However, this recent study indicates that more research is necessary because it's not yet clear whether or not the newer dyes are completely safe.

Dr. de Sanjose and her team concluded that approximately 10 percent of women who develop lymphoma may have the cancer because they used hair dye. I've been dying my hair for years, but after reading this article, perhaps I'll think about going natural again!

About the author: In her spare time, knotheadus writes for Epinions.com and maintains her own Web site, knot-heads.com.