Breastfeeding Reduces Breast Cancer Risk
With only 11% of women in the US exclusively breastfeeding through the first 6 months of their baby’s life, I’m always looking for another reason to encourage more women to breastfeed. Aside from the benefits breastfeeding brings to baby, like antibodies and fats that promote brain and eye development, and a reduced risk of obesity, there are concrete benefits for moms too.
A recent review of 98 studies on the relationship between lactation and breast cancer risk has found convincing evidence that breastfeeding reduces the risk of both pre- and post-menopausal breast cancers. There is also limited but suggestive evidence that breastfeeding reduces the risk of ovarian cancer. On top of that, since babies who are breastfed seem to be less likely to be overweight during their early years, and excess childhood weight typically carries over into adulthood, it could reduce the risk of certain cancers* in your child as well.
Cancer experts recommend that all women breastfeed exclusively for the first six months, without the addition of water or other foods. Beyond six months, mothers and babies should breastfeed for as long as it is comfortable and reasonable. If it lowers my risk of cancer, I think I could be comfortable for a pretty long time. How about you?
*colon, kidney, pancreas, endometrium (uterine lining), adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and post-menopausal breast cancer
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January 31st, 2008 at 4:54 am
I think it’s hard for a lot of people to do things because of some statistic that says it will reduce the odds of getting a certain kind of cancer. It seems like there’s a new “x prevents y” study every day, and a lot of the times you later find out that there isn’t much truth to it/the study wasn’t constructed well enough to draw such strong conclusions/etc. I had a friend who was so sure that she was going to breasfeed for at least 6-8 months, but doing it made it really hard for her to feel at all sexual and her husband was starting to get really irritable. She was buying formula before she even hit the 2 month mark.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:18 am
Thanks for leaving a comment! I totally agree that there area lot of bad studies and incorrect conclusions out there in the world of research. The benefit of this study, is that it put together data from 98 smaller studies. Nothing is perfect, but combining this with the known benefits of breastfeeding will hopefully be a motivator for more women. I’m breastfeeding #3 right now, and it isn’t always easy, but I think it’s best for both of us - and far less expensive than buying formula!