How breast can beat cancer

Tuesday August 11th, 2009

Breast-feeding may have a powerful protective effect for women at high risk of developing cancer, researchers reported last night.

A study of women with breast cancer in the family found that those who breast-fed their children enjoyed a 59 per cent reduced risk of getting the disease.

The effect is as powerful as taking the anti-breast cancer drug Tamoxifen for five years, according to researchers.

Researcher Dr Alison Stuebe said: "This is good news for women with a family history of breast cancer."

The findings come from a US study involving more than 100,000 women, reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers found the protective effect of breast-feeding only applied to women with breast cancer in the family. And it did not matter how long a woman breast-fed for.

Dr Stuebe, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, said: "This could be because there's something about genetically caused breast cancer that's affected by breastfeeding, or it could be because rates of breast cancer were so low in women without a family history that we couldn't see an association in this data set."

She added: "Mothers and babies need supportive hospital policies, paid maternity leave, and workplace accommodations so that they can meet their breastfeeding goals.

"Public health begins with breastfeeding."

Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(15):1364-1371

Tags: Cancer | Childbirth and Pregnancy | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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