You’re only taught about skin in biology class, but the reason skin is taut – and much more so when a person is young – is in part because the abundance of collagen in the skin gives it that tightness. Collagen depletes as we get older and that’s why skin starts to snag and doesn’t have the snappiness to it. That happens all over the body, and not surprisingly one of the places where that tightness and firmness is missed for women is with the skin of their chest. What we’ll discuss here is what type of collagen causes breast cancer.  

It's not that women will be taking collagen supplementation to improve skin quality because of their breasts, and plenty of men will be using supplementary collagen too. Generally, the aim is for skin improvement all over the body, and it is true that you can improve skin firmness and elasticity with collagen. One of the ways you can do that naturally is to drink bone broth, but all aesthetic concerns either a man or woman may have will go out the window if they get a breast cancer diagnosis.  

Yes, men can get breast cancer too. Although it is much more common for women simply based on the fact there’s so much tissue there. People who have a history of breast cancer in their family will want to be proactive in avoiding it, and if they are looking to improve their skin, they may be asking what type of collagen causes breast cancer. This may be in advance of the question is breast cancer inherited from mother or father. A person’s cancer risk can come from either side of the family.  

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The unfortunate truth here is that collagen supplementation can promote breast cancer if cancerous cells are already present in breast tissue. Collagen acts as a physical barrier to cell migration and regulates proliferation in all cells, including cancerous ones. This creates a cell concentration, and if those cells are cancerous that’s very problematic and it makes it much more likely the cancer metastasizes quickly. As for what type of collagen causes breast cancer, the one that is most directly attributable to enhanced tumor growth is type 1 Alpha collagen.  

It is interesting that left breast cancer is more common, but the reasons behind that have nothing to do with any type of supplement being more present in the body. People who are taking collagen supplements and know they have a higher familial cancer risk may want to discuss this with their doctor and see if they are intaking more type 1 Alpha collagen. This is the most pressing issue with what type of collagen causes breast cancer, because it is a promoter for many other types of cancer too. Including lung cancer, which is another common one.  

Aiming to have better skin may be existing alongside the desire to slim down too, but we will leave any discussion around can you take Ozempic with breast cancer for a later blog entry here. It’s fine to want to find something of a fountain of youth with collagen, but make sure it isn’t heightening your risk of breast cancer.