Can breast-feeding reduce the risk of breast cancer?
We know that breast-feeding offers many healthful benefits to babies. However, in a new report by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), on breast cancer shows that there is strong evidence that breast-feeding can reduce women’s risk of premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancers.
According to the report there could be several reason why breast-feeding lowers breast cancer risk such as – after lactation, the breast sheds a lot of tissue during which it may also get rid of cells with damaged DNA, which can give rise to cancer.
Source: www.aicr.org/continuous-update-project/reports/breast-cancer-report-2017.pdf
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15yr breast cancer survivor. I gave birth to 3 children. First child was at age 36, second child at age 38, third child at age 40. I breast fed all three children for 6 to 8 months. I asked my oncologist if having children later in life or breast feeding had anything to do with my breast cancer at age 51. I hadn’t started menopause yet. My oncologist told me that if anything, the pregnancies and nursing had postponed my occurrence of breast cancer. My breast tumor was estrogen positive and I had to undergo chemically induced menopause, also take tamoxifen for 6yrs, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. I had regular scheduled mammograms. My breast cancer surgeon told me that my breast cancer was caused by exposure to something toxic in my puberty years that damaged my DNA.
Thank you for your comment Susan. Wishing you all the best.
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