In the spotlight on a mannequin in the Lingerie Department...

In the spotlight on a mannequin in the Lingerie Department at Garden City's Nordstrom is the Chanetlle C-Paris bra, a popular choice for customers who visit the store. (Oct. 11, 2011) Credit: Nancy Borowick

Are bras really necessary? Maybe not.

At least that's what one professor at a French university is saying.

Preliminary results from an experiment conducted during a 15-year period at the University Hospital of Besançon by Professor Jean-Denis Rouillon show that the absence of bras not only helps to straighten breasts, but also helps to reduce back pain.

Rouillon first told France Info about the experiment's results saying, "Medically, physiologically, anatomically, the breast does not benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra."

According to the French media outlet, Capucine, 28, a young woman included in the study, said of shedding her bra for nearly two years, "I breathe more easily, I carry myself better, and I have less back pain."

Speaking to The Local, another French media outlet, Rouillon stressed that his results are not a representation of women everywhere.  "The small sample of 320 young women is not representative of the entire population — that would require something like 300,000 subjects," he said of the study.

What do you think about shedding your brassieres and bustiers? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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