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Long-term
Breast Feeding
Lowers Breast Cancer Risk
NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Women who breastfeed for at least 2 years cut their
risk of developing breast cancer by nearly half compared with
women who breastfeed for less than 6 months, researchers report.
The investigators
found that the protective effect of breastfeeding applied to a
woman's risk of developing breast cancer before and after menopause.
Previous studies have shown that breastfeeding reduces cancer
risk only in premenopausal women.
``The longer
duration of lactation--whether it is based on breastfeeding of
a first child or breastfeeding over a lifetime--leads to a significantly
reduced risk of breast cancer,'' Dr. Tongzhang Zheng, from Yale
University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and the
study's lead author, said in a prepared statement.
The results
are based on interviews with more than 700 women in China about
their breastfeeding, menstruation and reproductive histories.
Women who breastfed a child for more than 24 months had a 54%
reduced risk of developing breast cancer compared with women who
breastfed for no more than 6 months.
The results,
which are published in a recent issue of the American Journal
of Epidemiology, also show that women who breastfed for at least
73 months over the course of their lives had a much lower risk
of breast cancer.
``These data
suggest that prolonged lactation reduces breast cancer risk,''
the authors conclude.
The researchers
explain that reproductive cycle-hormones that are linked to some
forms of breast cancer are suppressed during breastfeeding while
protective compounds may be released.
The study
also confirmed that beginning menstruation at a later age and
having a first pregnancy at a younger age lowers breast cancer
risk. Women who went through menopause later and those with a
family history of breast cancer were at increased risk.
Zheng and
colleagues point out that few women in Western countries breastfeed
for more than 4 months, which may explain why some studies conducted
in the US indicate that breastfeeding does not influence breast
cancer risk.
``In Chinese
society, it is socially acceptable to breastfeed for a long time,''
Zheng said. ``And it is considered good for the child.''
SOURCE:
American Journal of Epidemiology 2000;152:1129-1135.
Reference
Source 89
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