It’s Q&A Friday! 

First, a bonus question with an exciting answer:

Why can’t we fund better studies? I love following your content, and Expecting Better was extremely helpful during my pregnancies (one miscarriage, one baby). Now that I’m a new mom, it’s frustrating that things like breast milk storage haven’t truly been studied properly, and it seems like there’s a huge community of women who would want to both participate in and crowdfund studies to give us better information. Is there a way we can connect those in the research fields with a platform to allow us to fund the research and get the information that so many women need?

—Sandy

I ask myself this question 12 times a day. Especially as it applies to breast milk, which you know I’ve written and complained about. 

It seems ridiculous that there is not more research money for this. Sometimes, though, you have to do it yourself. 

When I wrote that breastfeeding piece, a research team from Germany reached out to say they were trying to do it but were running up against funding issues. So they worked with their university to set up a GoFundMe. Check it out, and if you’re so inclined, help. One step at a time…

Now on to our usual format — the first question today is available to all subscribers (aluminum in deodorant), and there are a few bonus ones behind the paywall (about menstruation after breastfeeding, preconception substance use, and waking a baby for feedings).

Enjoy! And remember, you can submit questions for future weeks here.

Aluminum in deodorant — is it giving us cancer or what? My perimenopausal self needs the antiperspirant aspect not offered in natural alternatives.

—Bridget Sweaty Pits

No, or at least not based on data.

The source of this discussion is the observation that breast cancer often appears in areas of the breast close to the armpit. Aluminum is toxic in some concentrations, in some settings, so the suggestion was made (see linked paper above) that these products might be responsible. 

That suggestion isn’t seen supported in the data. In a systematic review from 2016, the authors identified two small case-control studies, neither of which showed this relationship (the point estimate was actually in the other direction). Case-control studies are not the best, so this isn’t some kind of ironclad proof, but it definitely does not support this observation.

A somewhat scathing 2008 article convened a set of experts to evaluate the possibility of this claim. They titled their article “The use of deodorants/antiperspirants does not constitute a risk factor for breast cancer.” They end with “After analysis of the available literature on the subject, no scientific evidence to support the hypothesis was identified and no validated hypothesis appears likely to open the way to interesting avenues of research.”

In other words: you can stop thinking about this.