Guys Can Wear Girdles Without Worry

Strange health story du jour: wearing a tight belt — or a corset, for that matter — won’t give you esophageal cancer if you’re a man. Apparently, some people had suspected that rises in the rates of esophageal cancer were due to men wearing belts instead of suspenders like in the old days. An intrepid […]

Strange health story du jour: wearing a tight belt -- or a corset, for that matter -- won't give you esophageal cancer if you're a man.

Apparently, some people had suspected that rises in the rates of esophageal cancer were due to men wearing belts instead of suspenders like in the old days.

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An intrepid team of Swedish researchers investigated.

Reuters Health has more:

…they surveyed 618 patients with different types of esophageal cancer and stomach cancer, and 820 healthy controls. All were asked how frequently they had used "a belt or corset or other garment that was tightened around your waist with force" for more than three hours, 20 years previously.

About 10% of the study participants reported daily use of tight belts, but the researchers found no association between frequency of tight belt use and esophageal cancer.

(In case you're wondering: the image is of a Dr. Frankenfurter rubber ducky. You're welcome.)