September 19, 2012 • 22 mins
Are asymmetrical breasts abnormal? Is there a correlation between uneven breasts and nursing? Is there a relationship between breast asymmetry and breast cancer risk? Join Cristen and Caroline as they explore the facts about breast asymmetry.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?
From how Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline. Caroline. I learn
(00:22):
a new word today while prepping for this podcast. It's letharky.
Oh yeah. Is that like lazy menarchy? Really slow period?
Slow first period? Uh No, although you are right to
(00:42):
associate it with monarchy, which is the term for the
first menstrual period, and letharkey is the term for the
initial breast development. Now, when who could drop letharchy into
casual conversation? I don't know, but I'm still glad to
(01:06):
have a new word up in monoggan. And the reason
why letharky came up in the research today was because
we're talking about asymmetrical boobs. It's normal. It's totally normal.
Let's go ahead and get that out of the way.
For any person with boobs who is listening unless you
(01:30):
paid for him, in which case, if they are are asymmetrical,
I don't know, you might want your money back. But
asymmetrical boobs are totally normal breasts. Boobs breasts exactly. Now,
there are certain circumstances where one might be radically different
than the other, in which case that could be completely different.
But if we're talking about just average, normal, run of
(01:51):
the mill breast development, they're usually different sizes, and it
might be it might be obvious, it might be just
like kind of like one might be a little bit
smaller than you. Might not notice that much, but it's
don't worry, you're your normal. Yeah, And it has to
do with the fact that breasts are a secondary sex
trait or a physical characteristic that makes its grand debut
(02:14):
during puberty. So you know, guys all of a sudden
sprout all this hair, the pubic hair, chest hair, facial hair,
their testicles and large, their voice gets deeper. Girls. Meanwhile,
we get a monarchy and letharchy to two twins, boobs
in a period, and other things of course, such as
pubic hair. But with this sudden influx of hormones, specifically estrogen,
(02:41):
when we're talking about breast development, things can get a
little uneven when it comes to developing these secondary sex traits. Yeah,
and a lot of this does have to do with
hormone levels. We have menstruation and and this is not
just changing like you know, one breast being lightly different.
This is kind of overall breath changes in general. During menstruation,
(03:04):
they can get fuller and more tender. I'm sure that's
very common. I've experienced that. You know, when your boobs
just hurt, when they're huge out of nowhere, that's okay,
But the boobs hurting thing, it's not as good if
you're small busted. Sometimes he'll take it. Sometimes that's exciting,
I think for both blushing for a week. Um. Then
there's during pregnancy and nursing. Obviously they get significantly larger. Menopause,
(03:29):
they may even become lumpy, which is something I can
look forward to, I guess. And if you're taking contraceptives
and or gaining and losing weight, that also causes a
lot of changes. But it's really during that whole puberty
thing when your breast begin to develop and one might
just you know, like pop out sooner than the other,
which is unfortunate. But I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it happens.
(03:50):
And the simplest explanation for why it happens is that
the amount of estrogen that the ovary secrete and then
are directed to Uh, that breast tissue and specifically to
the milk ducks inside of our breast. The estrogen isn't
delivered evenly. It's not like the ovaries deliver like one
(04:11):
shot of estrogen to the left and one shot to
the right. Uh. Sometimes one breast gets a little bit
more than the other, and so you have some uneven growth.
And one thing I also didn't know about breast development.
I learned so many things about my boobs today that
I'm going to try to drop into casual conversation. So
(04:33):
that's gonna be awkward this weekend. Um. Technically, doctors don't
consider breast fully mature until after childbirth and lactation, So
basically they've done everything they could possibly do in terms
of you know, becoming gorged with milk and the milk
exiting with lactation, and then it's the swelling going back
(04:56):
down after you wean a baby, and then it's time
for really support of bras. So I wonder if you,
in a doctor's eyes, for instance, if you just never
have a kid, do you then have never bobs are
just immature. I grow up and get a job. You
have really sarcastic dudes A side glances. Well, yeah, speaking
(05:19):
of nursing, UM, it's also common for maybe one breast,
you know, if it's the larger breast, for instance, to
also produce more milk. Um. As web and D and
pregnancy dot Org point out, each breast is independent. They're
they're neighboring countries, but they are independent, so breastfeeding might
not even have the same effect on each side. So
(05:39):
what happens You get breast engorgement, which is caused by
congested blood vessels while you're nursing. But once that resolves,
once your your breast, the swelling reduces in your breast.
One might be slightly misshapen, unfortunately, I'm sorry. Again, I'm sorry. Um,
one may stay larger or droop or flatten more. And
you know, if one ends up producing more milk than
(06:00):
the other, than you will have one bigger breast than
the other. But again, hey, normal normal boobs not not
necessarily the same size. But there are, as you mentioned earlier,
some conditions in which there is it is more of
an abnormality. UM. For instance, there's something called Poland's syndrome,
(06:22):
which is a congenital defect, meaning you're you're born with
it and it's marked by the absence of the pectoralis
which is our big chest muscle on one side of
the body, and webbing of the fingers on the hand
of the same size. UM. And it was named fun
fact for the nineteenth century British surgeon Alfred Poland. Has
(06:43):
nothing to do with the country, No, nothing to do. Um.
There's also also a juvenile hypertrophy, which is one breast
growing significantly larger than the other. And they point out that, uh,
there are some things that work and some things that don't.
If you have uneven breast size. Things that don't work exercises,
supplements or diets. Yeah, and uh in the case of
(07:07):
and we're talking about something that does work in order
to to fix this. I think we're speaking specifically towards
something like juvenile hypertrophy, because we're not talking about just
some run of the mill asymmetry. One's kind of you know,
a be almost in one's a fuller b or whatever
your letter is. Um. This is where there's significant difference
(07:32):
in size. There's actually a term for that. We're there
it is and there's actually a specific term. I'm really
into specific boob terms today. UM. But when one breast
is much larger than the other because of that hypertrophy.
It's called gigantomastia. Hmm, that sounds unfortunate. Yeah, So in
(07:57):
that kind of case you might need something like a
plastic surge re um, a special insert in a bra
and um. For for some women who have this, there
is a feeling of having having a deformity. Yeah, that's uh.
Lori Cassus doctor Dr Cassas over on web in d
She is an Associate professor of surgery at Northwestern University's
(08:19):
Fineberg School of Medicine in Chicago, UM. She says, Yeah,
people really feel like they don't have a normal body part,
and this whole thing becomes a body image issue, not
necessarily just a self esteem issue. People want to look normal,
They want to look good in clothes, which I mean,
of course, and so if you feel like something on
you is radically different than how it's supposed to be,
(08:40):
then then you're very maybe insecure. Yeah, and that can
absolutely that psychological aspect can absolutely extend to cases um
of not dealing specifically with juvenile hypertrophy, but just um
breast asymmetry, especially when your breasts are developing. If you're
younger breast to because them so sexualized and we have
(09:02):
um these I think idealized images now of what breasts
should look like, these two perfect, perky things. And if
they don't look perfect or like the way we think
they should, then maybe we think that there's something wrong
with us, and we might think that we will be
negatively judged if we become intimate with someone for for
(09:23):
not being completely symmetrical. Right, And there's also depression was
also cited in a study in the Israel Medical Association Journal.
They looked at the causes and characteristics of breast asymmetry
and adolescents with normal indecrine profiles and sexual developments. So
they're trying to find out, okay, what causes these breast
(09:44):
size issues and young girls. They looked at eleven patients.
It was a small study, but they found that severe
breast asymmetry may be due to congenital factors, diseases involving
the breast tissue, or to the effects of medical treatment,
and it may have severe ad verse psychological and social implications.
And so they say that depression is often an accompanying
(10:05):
symptom for young girls who have severe breast a symmetry right,
But a lot of times um doctors will reassure younger
girls that any kind of a symmetry will tend to
even out by the age of twenty. But it's still
normal to not have the exact same left and right breast. Yeah,
(10:25):
it's actually so normal that Fruit of Balloom and Amazon
teamed up for the Pick your Perfect Pair bra um.
You can pick different cup sizes for each side, so
that's neat. Yeah, that's a great idea. And if they
come in cute there, like all polka dots and multicolors
and stuff, so you could have like a polka dotted
boob and then a stripe boob. Whatever you're feeling like
(10:47):
that day, whatever your bee feels like, and whatever you're
almost be feels like mix and match. But there is
one more alarming connection with a symmetry and rest that
has come up, starting really in March of two thousand
and six, with a study that was published in the
journal Breast Cancer Research. And it's an association between breast
(11:11):
asymmetry and developing breast cancer. But before we go any further,
don't worry. This doesn't mean if you have uneven breasts
you are necessarily bound to develop breast cancer, but some
studies have uncovered a link. Yeah, the researchers went into
the study thinking that a larger difference in breast size
(11:31):
could be an independent risk factor for developing breast cancer,
because they found that women who later developed breast cancer
had more a symmetry than those who didn't develop it.
But at the end of it all, you know, kind
of lowering the alarm. Asymmetry is just one of many
traits that influenced breast cancer risk because there's all of
these risks you know, genetic, environmental, whatever, whatever, that this
(11:56):
is just one of the many possibilities. Yeah, I mean
you have things like obviously a family history breast cancer,
a lower age at monarchy, later menopause later, first pregnancies UM.
And the reason why these University of Liverpool researchers were
looking at breast symmetry to begin with this was they
were looking at it among two two women in one
(12:18):
group and then mammograms from two hundred fifty two women
in a control group. And they were looking at breast
size because of UM, the influence of estrogen on breast
cancer development. So they are concerned that because UM asymmetry
might indicate sort of a lower tolerance for disruptive hormones
(12:43):
like that rush of estrogen that will hit at puberty
and stimulate breast development. They think that perhaps there might
be some kind of connection there, but again, it's one
factor among many when it comes to developing breast cancer, right,
And there was a different study US genetics company twenty
three in me examine the link, which is adorable. Twenty
(13:04):
three in me. It just sounds like it's like a
sitcom from the eighties or something. But anyway, and your
friendly geno. But yeah, so this genetics company examined the
link between breast eye and cancer. And Britain's National Health
Service took a look at this study and basically said
that it oversimplified all the different factors because breath cancer
is such a complex condition. Yeah, because you'll see there
(13:26):
was a headline in the Daily Mail reporting on this
study that said, I don't and now I'm paraphrasing this headline,
but it was something along the lines of bigger bra siye,
bigger risk of breast cancer. No sensationalism there, yeah, to
which every so many women probably clutched their boobs in horror. Um.
(13:47):
But yeah, when it comes to these these explorations of
breast cancer, breast size, and symmetry versus asymmetry. Um, it
is important to look beyond just the headlines that you
might see. But to close things out, since we're talking
about breast asymmetry, why why do we care so much
(14:08):
about a little bit of unevenness? Like why why worry
about it in the first place. Well, we're probably worried
what we look like nakedly or in the mirror. That
could be, it could be. It would be nice though
if that were not the case, if it's never worried
what we looked like naked. Uh, Well, I um, I
think it has something to do with our innate attraction
(14:30):
to symmetrical things. There's like within uh, they like our biology.
We are drawn to symmetry, are we not. Yeah, it
doesn't suppose it's supposed to mean that you're healthier or
that you're Elizabeth Harley. I don't know, she's very symmetrical.
It signals being related to Elizabeth early yes, and um yeah,
(14:51):
and your your reproductive fitness. So you see all these
days that come up come out saying that more symmetrical
faces are redd as, more are attractive than non symmetrical faces,
although that doesn't mean. There was a blog that I
was reading over at Science two point oh and it
was it's called rogue neuron, and they were pointing out
that just because something might be more attractive doesn't necessarily
(15:14):
necessarily make it more sexually attractive. Sometimes it's more of
the difference, a little bit of a you know, I
don't want to say a flaw, um a unique something
or other distinguishing that related to a boobs. Yes, but
well I'm talking more about faces. Hopefully someone's not staring
(15:36):
so closely at my boobs that they can see the
geni of my left and Christian I'm always wearing sheer tops.
So speaking of symmetry and attractiveness, there are to studies.
This is a while ago, but it's just funny that
apparently the year of symmetry. This U T. Austin study
(15:58):
found that uh, people were more attracted to figures with
low waste hip ratios who were also uh, very symmetrical
in the boob region. Man, come on, you t us
and we've just we've just spent how long, like fifteen
minutes or something calming people's nerves about asymmetrical breast I
(16:19):
don't know, maybe things have changed since grunge went out, perhaps,
but yeah, so men of the grunge era really actually
used both waste to hip ratios and breath asymmetry and
judging attractiveness and being willing to develop romantic relationships. Now
I did not you found this study. And I have
(16:40):
a feeling though that because I've seen other studies that
on facial symmetry versus asymmetry, and they show participants all
these computer generated images of something like a really symmetrical
face and then a symmetrical face which would not exist
in nature, like like very it's it shows a hunchback
(17:01):
of netter Day. Yeah, it kind of feels sometimes like
the researchers are sort of like breathing down it just
beIN next being like because you know, if you have
like one I don't know one bood but three feet
out from the other one, I am taking. Yeah, I'm
gonna go ahead and take a stand on this study
and say, you know what, maybe the symmetry or asymmetry
(17:22):
was exaggerated images absolutely, But so this shows that men
of this very specific study Christen Men in Austin, Texas
of the grunge era found women who were symmetrical more
attractive than women who were ridiculously asymmetrical. There we go, okay,
Goo'd buy those results. But when it comes to day
(17:42):
to day and our breast, when we do when we
are naked, you know, because this does come down a
lot too to being naked. There were a lot of
um advice letters that I ran across while we were
looking for information on this, from younger girls in particular,
who were concerned about what what a part nor might
think about some asymmetry, to which I say to you
(18:05):
and all, it is a okay and it is normal.
And if one breast being slightly smaller or bigger, however,
why you look at a glass half all or glass
half empty? Uh is a deal breaker? Then kick him
to the curb anyway, Yeah, and then go buy a
braw and Amazon from True to the Limb, or just
don't wear one at all. I don't know, I don't care. Yeah,
(18:28):
we don't. We don't want to tell you what to
do with your bras. So that's why breasts are so
often uneven. And if you have any stories you would
like to share about about asymmetry and breast or any advice,
if we have younger listeners out there. If you're still
concerned about this issue, we'd be more than happy to
(18:49):
hear from you. You You can send us a letter. Mom
Stuff at Discovery dot com is our email address. And
in the meantime, I've got an email here from a
summer short, one of my favorite summer shorts so we did,
in fact on nude beaches. And this is from Alicia
and she she writes, I dated a guy whose family
(19:11):
owned and lived at a nudist park at a lake
in New Hampshire. We often referred to him as the
Naked Republican because his family was very conservative, very blue collar,
and they had a nudist park, complete with church on
Sunday morning. It seems like it shouldn't be possible, but
once there, it's easier to see that nothing is sexual.
(19:32):
Their family has gone very far to make sure that
it is a family friendly park, despite the fact that
nobody wears clothes. There is a line between sexy and naked,
and I have to say they did it. The park
was started when my ex's grandfather came home from World
War Two. Was some kind of infection that the doctor
said would be best if not covered, so we bought
a huge tract of land in New Hampshire that had
(19:53):
a lake and there the park started. There are boats,
tennis courts, volleyball courts and many cabins to stay in.
You can't wear a bathing suit because that is sexy.
You can wear cover ups or as it still baffles me,
you can wear a jacket and nothing else. Disrobing in
public is a no no, and you do not ever
(20:14):
forget your towel. There's no alcohol on the premises and
it is a place where single people are selectively allowed.
This isn't a meat market. Oh man. Alicia, thanks so
much for sending in that story. And here's one from
brit on our Celiac Disease episode. She says, Celiac runs
in my family and it's been an eye opening experience.
(20:36):
Sometimes it gets annoying to hear people think you're just
following some fad diet when you're really advocating for your health.
I was surprised that you left out some of the
more random items and food. They contain gluten, and this
is an amazing list. I just want to tell you, Okay,
lip gloss, envelope, glue, processed ham, anything dusted with flowers
(20:57):
such as latex gloves, wine corks, even some pills, and finally,
art supplies like paint and clay. She says, well, not
important to people just going on a diet. It is
important for people with celia to investigate the ingredients and
keep talking to their doctors and apparently avoiding processed hams.
Stay away from the canned hams. Thank you, Britt. When
(21:20):
the holidays roll around soon, do not give canned hands
to your gluten free friends or or me. I'll just
go ahead and put that out there, or envelopes, Okay,
I guess they could use tape anyway, So send us
an email. Mom Stuff at Discovery dot com of course
is where you can send them, and you can always
(21:41):
find us on Facebook, like us over there if you would,
and follow us on Twitter at Mom's Stuff podcast, and
you can even join us on Tumbler Stuff Mom never
told you dot tumbler dot com. And if you would
like to get a little smarter this week, why don't
you head to our website, It's house stuff works dot com.
(22:04):
For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit
how stuff works dot com. Brought to you by the
reinvented two thousand twelve camera, it's ready. Are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?
From how Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline. Caroline. I learn
(00:22):
a new word today while prepping for this podcast. It's letharky.
Oh yeah. Is that like lazy menarchy? Really slow period?
Slow first period? Uh No, although you are right to
(00:42):
associate it with monarchy, which is the term for the
first menstrual period, and letharkey is the term for the
initial breast development. Now, when who could drop letharchy into
casual conversation? I don't know, but I'm still glad to
(01:06):
have a new word up in monoggan. And the reason
why letharky came up in the research today was because
we're talking about asymmetrical boobs. It's normal. It's totally normal.
Let's go ahead and get that out of the way.
For any person with boobs who is listening unless you
(01:30):
paid for him, in which case, if they are are asymmetrical,
I don't know, you might want your money back. But
asymmetrical boobs are totally normal breasts. Boobs breasts exactly. Now,
there are certain circumstances where one might be radically different
than the other, in which case that could be completely different.
But if we're talking about just average, normal, run of
(01:51):
the mill breast development, they're usually different sizes, and it
might be it might be obvious, it might be just
like kind of like one might be a little bit
smaller than you. Might not notice that much, but it's
don't worry, you're your normal. Yeah, And it has to
do with the fact that breasts are a secondary sex
trait or a physical characteristic that makes its grand debut
(02:14):
during puberty. So you know, guys all of a sudden
sprout all this hair, the pubic hair, chest hair, facial hair,
their testicles and large, their voice gets deeper. Girls. Meanwhile,
we get a monarchy and letharchy to two twins, boobs
in a period, and other things of course, such as
pubic hair. But with this sudden influx of hormones, specifically estrogen,
(02:41):
when we're talking about breast development, things can get a
little uneven when it comes to developing these secondary sex traits. Yeah,
and a lot of this does have to do with
hormone levels. We have menstruation and and this is not
just changing like you know, one breast being lightly different.
This is kind of overall breath changes in general. During menstruation,
(03:04):
they can get fuller and more tender. I'm sure that's
very common. I've experienced that. You know, when your boobs
just hurt, when they're huge out of nowhere, that's okay,
But the boobs hurting thing, it's not as good if
you're small busted. Sometimes he'll take it. Sometimes that's exciting,
I think for both blushing for a week. Um. Then
there's during pregnancy and nursing. Obviously they get significantly larger. Menopause,
(03:29):
they may even become lumpy, which is something I can
look forward to, I guess. And if you're taking contraceptives
and or gaining and losing weight, that also causes a
lot of changes. But it's really during that whole puberty
thing when your breast begin to develop and one might
just you know, like pop out sooner than the other,
which is unfortunate. But I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it happens.
(03:50):
And the simplest explanation for why it happens is that
the amount of estrogen that the ovary secrete and then
are directed to Uh, that breast tissue and specifically to
the milk ducks inside of our breast. The estrogen isn't
delivered evenly. It's not like the ovaries deliver like one
(04:11):
shot of estrogen to the left and one shot to
the right. Uh. Sometimes one breast gets a little bit
more than the other, and so you have some uneven growth.
And one thing I also didn't know about breast development.
I learned so many things about my boobs today that
I'm going to try to drop into casual conversation. So
(04:33):
that's gonna be awkward this weekend. Um. Technically, doctors don't
consider breast fully mature until after childbirth and lactation, So
basically they've done everything they could possibly do in terms
of you know, becoming gorged with milk and the milk
exiting with lactation, and then it's the swelling going back
(04:56):
down after you wean a baby, and then it's time
for really support of bras. So I wonder if you,
in a doctor's eyes, for instance, if you just never
have a kid, do you then have never bobs are
just immature. I grow up and get a job. You
have really sarcastic dudes A side glances. Well, yeah, speaking
(05:19):
of nursing, UM, it's also common for maybe one breast,
you know, if it's the larger breast, for instance, to
also produce more milk. Um. As web and D and
pregnancy dot Org point out, each breast is independent. They're
they're neighboring countries, but they are independent, so breastfeeding might
not even have the same effect on each side. So
(05:39):
what happens You get breast engorgement, which is caused by
congested blood vessels while you're nursing. But once that resolves,
once your your breast, the swelling reduces in your breast.
One might be slightly misshapen, unfortunately, I'm sorry. Again, I'm sorry. Um,
one may stay larger or droop or flatten more. And
you know, if one ends up producing more milk than
(06:00):
the other, than you will have one bigger breast than
the other. But again, hey, normal normal boobs not not
necessarily the same size. But there are, as you mentioned earlier,
some conditions in which there is it is more of
an abnormality. UM. For instance, there's something called Poland's syndrome,
(06:22):
which is a congenital defect, meaning you're you're born with
it and it's marked by the absence of the pectoralis
which is our big chest muscle on one side of
the body, and webbing of the fingers on the hand
of the same size. UM. And it was named fun
fact for the nineteenth century British surgeon Alfred Poland. Has
(06:43):
nothing to do with the country, No, nothing to do. Um.
There's also also a juvenile hypertrophy, which is one breast
growing significantly larger than the other. And they point out that, uh,
there are some things that work and some things that don't.
If you have uneven breast size. Things that don't work exercises,
supplements or diets. Yeah, and uh in the case of
(07:07):
and we're talking about something that does work in order
to to fix this. I think we're speaking specifically towards
something like juvenile hypertrophy, because we're not talking about just
some run of the mill asymmetry. One's kind of you know,
a be almost in one's a fuller b or whatever
your letter is. Um. This is where there's significant difference
(07:32):
in size. There's actually a term for that. We're there
it is and there's actually a specific term. I'm really
into specific boob terms today. UM. But when one breast
is much larger than the other because of that hypertrophy.
It's called gigantomastia. Hmm, that sounds unfortunate. Yeah, So in
(07:57):
that kind of case you might need something like a
plastic surge re um, a special insert in a bra
and um. For for some women who have this, there
is a feeling of having having a deformity. Yeah, that's uh.
Lori Cassus doctor Dr Cassas over on web in d
She is an Associate professor of surgery at Northwestern University's
(08:19):
Fineberg School of Medicine in Chicago, UM. She says, Yeah,
people really feel like they don't have a normal body part,
and this whole thing becomes a body image issue, not
necessarily just a self esteem issue. People want to look normal,
They want to look good in clothes, which I mean,
of course, and so if you feel like something on
you is radically different than how it's supposed to be,
(08:40):
then then you're very maybe insecure. Yeah, and that can
absolutely that psychological aspect can absolutely extend to cases um
of not dealing specifically with juvenile hypertrophy, but just um
breast asymmetry, especially when your breasts are developing. If you're
younger breast to because them so sexualized and we have
(09:02):
um these I think idealized images now of what breasts
should look like, these two perfect, perky things. And if
they don't look perfect or like the way we think
they should, then maybe we think that there's something wrong
with us, and we might think that we will be
negatively judged if we become intimate with someone for for
(09:23):
not being completely symmetrical. Right, And there's also depression was
also cited in a study in the Israel Medical Association Journal.
They looked at the causes and characteristics of breast asymmetry
and adolescents with normal indecrine profiles and sexual developments. So
they're trying to find out, okay, what causes these breast
(09:44):
size issues and young girls. They looked at eleven patients.
It was a small study, but they found that severe
breast asymmetry may be due to congenital factors, diseases involving
the breast tissue, or to the effects of medical treatment,
and it may have severe ad verse psychological and social implications.
And so they say that depression is often an accompanying
(10:05):
symptom for young girls who have severe breast a symmetry right,
But a lot of times um doctors will reassure younger
girls that any kind of a symmetry will tend to
even out by the age of twenty. But it's still
normal to not have the exact same left and right breast. Yeah,
(10:25):
it's actually so normal that Fruit of Balloom and Amazon
teamed up for the Pick your Perfect Pair bra um.
You can pick different cup sizes for each side, so
that's neat. Yeah, that's a great idea. And if they
come in cute there, like all polka dots and multicolors
and stuff, so you could have like a polka dotted
boob and then a stripe boob. Whatever you're feeling like
(10:47):
that day, whatever your bee feels like, and whatever you're
almost be feels like mix and match. But there is
one more alarming connection with a symmetry and rest that
has come up, starting really in March of two thousand
and six, with a study that was published in the
journal Breast Cancer Research. And it's an association between breast
(11:11):
asymmetry and developing breast cancer. But before we go any further,
don't worry. This doesn't mean if you have uneven breasts
you are necessarily bound to develop breast cancer, but some
studies have uncovered a link. Yeah, the researchers went into
the study thinking that a larger difference in breast size
(11:31):
could be an independent risk factor for developing breast cancer,
because they found that women who later developed breast cancer
had more a symmetry than those who didn't develop it.
But at the end of it all, you know, kind
of lowering the alarm. Asymmetry is just one of many
traits that influenced breast cancer risk because there's all of
these risks you know, genetic, environmental, whatever, whatever, that this
(11:56):
is just one of the many possibilities. Yeah, I mean
you have things like obviously a family history breast cancer,
a lower age at monarchy, later menopause later, first pregnancies UM.
And the reason why these University of Liverpool researchers were
looking at breast symmetry to begin with this was they
were looking at it among two two women in one
(12:18):
group and then mammograms from two hundred fifty two women
in a control group. And they were looking at breast
size because of UM, the influence of estrogen on breast
cancer development. So they are concerned that because UM asymmetry
might indicate sort of a lower tolerance for disruptive hormones
(12:43):
like that rush of estrogen that will hit at puberty
and stimulate breast development. They think that perhaps there might
be some kind of connection there, but again, it's one
factor among many when it comes to developing breast cancer, right,
And there was a different study US genetics company twenty
three in me examine the link, which is adorable. Twenty
(13:04):
three in me. It just sounds like it's like a
sitcom from the eighties or something. But anyway, and your
friendly geno. But yeah, so this genetics company examined the
link between breast eye and cancer. And Britain's National Health
Service took a look at this study and basically said
that it oversimplified all the different factors because breath cancer
is such a complex condition. Yeah, because you'll see there
(13:26):
was a headline in the Daily Mail reporting on this
study that said, I don't and now I'm paraphrasing this headline,
but it was something along the lines of bigger bra siye,
bigger risk of breast cancer. No sensationalism there, yeah, to
which every so many women probably clutched their boobs in horror. Um.
(13:47):
But yeah, when it comes to these these explorations of
breast cancer, breast size, and symmetry versus asymmetry. Um, it
is important to look beyond just the headlines that you
might see. But to close things out, since we're talking
about breast asymmetry, why why do we care so much
(14:08):
about a little bit of unevenness? Like why why worry
about it in the first place. Well, we're probably worried
what we look like nakedly or in the mirror. That
could be, it could be. It would be nice though
if that were not the case, if it's never worried
what we looked like naked. Uh, Well, I um, I
think it has something to do with our innate attraction
(14:30):
to symmetrical things. There's like within uh, they like our biology.
We are drawn to symmetry, are we not. Yeah, it
doesn't suppose it's supposed to mean that you're healthier or
that you're Elizabeth Harley. I don't know, she's very symmetrical.
It signals being related to Elizabeth early yes, and um yeah,
(14:51):
and your your reproductive fitness. So you see all these
days that come up come out saying that more symmetrical
faces are redd as, more are attractive than non symmetrical faces,
although that doesn't mean. There was a blog that I
was reading over at Science two point oh and it
was it's called rogue neuron, and they were pointing out
that just because something might be more attractive doesn't necessarily
(15:14):
necessarily make it more sexually attractive. Sometimes it's more of
the difference, a little bit of a you know, I
don't want to say a flaw, um a unique something
or other distinguishing that related to a boobs. Yes, but
well I'm talking more about faces. Hopefully someone's not staring
(15:36):
so closely at my boobs that they can see the
geni of my left and Christian I'm always wearing sheer tops.
So speaking of symmetry and attractiveness, there are to studies.
This is a while ago, but it's just funny that
apparently the year of symmetry. This U T. Austin study
(15:58):
found that uh, people were more attracted to figures with
low waste hip ratios who were also uh, very symmetrical
in the boob region. Man, come on, you t us
and we've just we've just spent how long, like fifteen
minutes or something calming people's nerves about asymmetrical breast I
(16:19):
don't know, maybe things have changed since grunge went out, perhaps,
but yeah, so men of the grunge era really actually
used both waste to hip ratios and breath asymmetry and
judging attractiveness and being willing to develop romantic relationships. Now
I did not you found this study. And I have
(16:40):
a feeling though that because I've seen other studies that
on facial symmetry versus asymmetry, and they show participants all
these computer generated images of something like a really symmetrical
face and then a symmetrical face which would not exist
in nature, like like very it's it shows a hunchback
(17:01):
of netter Day. Yeah, it kind of feels sometimes like
the researchers are sort of like breathing down it just
beIN next being like because you know, if you have
like one I don't know one bood but three feet
out from the other one, I am taking. Yeah, I'm
gonna go ahead and take a stand on this study
and say, you know what, maybe the symmetry or asymmetry
(17:22):
was exaggerated images absolutely, But so this shows that men
of this very specific study Christen Men in Austin, Texas
of the grunge era found women who were symmetrical more
attractive than women who were ridiculously asymmetrical. There we go, okay,
Goo'd buy those results. But when it comes to day
(17:42):
to day and our breast, when we do when we
are naked, you know, because this does come down a
lot too to being naked. There were a lot of
um advice letters that I ran across while we were
looking for information on this, from younger girls in particular,
who were concerned about what what a part nor might
think about some asymmetry, to which I say to you
(18:05):
and all, it is a okay and it is normal.
And if one breast being slightly smaller or bigger, however,
why you look at a glass half all or glass
half empty? Uh is a deal breaker? Then kick him
to the curb anyway, Yeah, and then go buy a
braw and Amazon from True to the Limb, or just
don't wear one at all. I don't know, I don't care. Yeah,
(18:28):
we don't. We don't want to tell you what to
do with your bras. So that's why breasts are so
often uneven. And if you have any stories you would
like to share about about asymmetry and breast or any advice,
if we have younger listeners out there. If you're still
concerned about this issue, we'd be more than happy to
(18:49):
hear from you. You You can send us a letter. Mom
Stuff at Discovery dot com is our email address. And
in the meantime, I've got an email here from a
summer short, one of my favorite summer shorts so we did,
in fact on nude beaches. And this is from Alicia
and she she writes, I dated a guy whose family
(19:11):
owned and lived at a nudist park at a lake
in New Hampshire. We often referred to him as the
Naked Republican because his family was very conservative, very blue collar,
and they had a nudist park, complete with church on
Sunday morning. It seems like it shouldn't be possible, but
once there, it's easier to see that nothing is sexual.
(19:32):
Their family has gone very far to make sure that
it is a family friendly park, despite the fact that
nobody wears clothes. There is a line between sexy and naked,
and I have to say they did it. The park
was started when my ex's grandfather came home from World
War Two. Was some kind of infection that the doctor
said would be best if not covered, so we bought
a huge tract of land in New Hampshire that had
(19:53):
a lake and there the park started. There are boats,
tennis courts, volleyball courts and many cabins to stay in.
You can't wear a bathing suit because that is sexy.
You can wear cover ups or as it still baffles me,
you can wear a jacket and nothing else. Disrobing in
public is a no no, and you do not ever
(20:14):
forget your towel. There's no alcohol on the premises and
it is a place where single people are selectively allowed.
This isn't a meat market. Oh man. Alicia, thanks so
much for sending in that story. And here's one from
brit on our Celiac Disease episode. She says, Celiac runs
in my family and it's been an eye opening experience.
(20:36):
Sometimes it gets annoying to hear people think you're just
following some fad diet when you're really advocating for your health.
I was surprised that you left out some of the
more random items and food. They contain gluten, and this
is an amazing list. I just want to tell you, Okay,
lip gloss, envelope, glue, processed ham, anything dusted with flowers
(20:57):
such as latex gloves, wine corks, even some pills, and finally,
art supplies like paint and clay. She says, well, not
important to people just going on a diet. It is
important for people with celia to investigate the ingredients and
keep talking to their doctors and apparently avoiding processed hams.
Stay away from the canned hams. Thank you, Britt. When
(21:20):
the holidays roll around soon, do not give canned hands
to your gluten free friends or or me. I'll just
go ahead and put that out there, or envelopes, Okay,
I guess they could use tape anyway, So send us
an email. Mom Stuff at Discovery dot com of course
is where you can send them, and you can always
(21:41):
find us on Facebook, like us over there if you would,
and follow us on Twitter at Mom's Stuff podcast, and
you can even join us on Tumbler Stuff Mom never
told you dot tumbler dot com. And if you would
like to get a little smarter this week, why don't
you head to our website, It's house stuff works dot com.
(22:04):
For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit
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