African-American women who reported regular use of body powder were at greater risk for ovarian cancer compared to their peers who didn’t use talc, a new study showsRegular use of powder was associated with ovarian cancer regardless of where the women used it, the researchers report. Users of genital powder had more than a 40 percent increased risk of cancer, while those who used only non-genital powder had an increased risk of more than 30 percent.
“African-American women have been targeted for use of body powder, and they use it more commonly,” principal investigator Joellen Schildkraut told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. “I’ve concluded – why use it?”
Schildkraut, an epidemiologist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, had been skeptical of a long-debated connection between genital talc and the deadly gynecologic cancer. But her new study, in concert with other recent research, convinced her to advise women to avoid using talcum powder.
“I was a cynic until these recent studies came out. As you look across all these studies, I would say, why use it? It’s an avoidable risk for ovarian cancer,” she said. Schildkraut’s team interviewed 584 black women with ovarian cancer and 745 black women without the disease from the southern, eastern and midwestern U.S.
