Correlation between cancer and parabens
in personal care products

Dr. Marianne Marchese was featured on EmpowHER, a site which provides women with access to condition-specific health information, world-class medical resources, and a dynamic community of experts and advocates committed to their well-being.

By Jody Smith

Dr. Marianne Marchese addresses the confusion about parabens and their use in shampoos and lotions, and whether or not parabens can cause cancer. She sees a real correlation between parabens and breast cancer, though that doesn't necessarily mean that parabens directly cause cancer. Even so, she recommends switching to lotions and shampoos that are paraben-free.

Dr. Marchese is a clinical supervisor at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine Medical Center. She uses an integrative approach to health care in her practice.

“Well, certain shampoos and lotions might be preserved with a chemical called parabens. It'd be called methylparaben or propylparaben, and there is a correlation with parabens and breast cancer. Nobody is really coming out and saying that it’s causing breast cancer, but we know that parabens are very estrogen-like compounds, and that women with breast cancer, they actually took a sample of their breast tumor and found in a 100% of samples they had parabens in there,” stated Dr. Marchese. “So again, it’s correlation, not causing, but it is something that I recommend my patients avoid as they use lotions and shampoos that are paraben-free.”

For more information on Dr. Marchese, visit www.drmarchese.com.