Study shows possible link between hair dye use, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2004

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Researchers have found more signs of a possible link between the use of hair-coloring products over a long period of time and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found.

In a study of more than 1,300 women in the US state of Connecticut, those who began dying their hair prior to 1980 had a 40 percent greater risk of developing this cancer.

Those who used darker, permanent hair-coloring products for at least 25 years -- eight times or more a year -- had double the chance of developing the cancer, according to Tongzhang Zheng, a Yale University epidemiologist who led the research.

The risk did not increase for those using non-permanent, light-toned dyes.

Until the late 1970s, permanent dyes were...