Breastfeeding Helps Protect Women From Breast Cancer - ONCOLOGY NURSING NEWS September 2009
Breastfeeding Helps Protect Women From Breast Cancer - ONCOLOGY NURSING NEWS September 2009
Women who breastfeed can lower their risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine (2009;169[15]:1364-1371) (abstract only; subscription required).
For the study, lead author Alison Stuebe, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and colleagues followed more than 60 000 women who reported at least 1 pregnancy to determine how many developed invasive breast cancer.
Among women with a family history of breast cancer, the researchers found that those who had breastfed were less than half as likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer as those who had not breastfed. When the researchers compared data from women who breastfed versus those who did not, there was a 25% total reduction in incidence of premenopausal breast cancer.
The findings also revealed that for women with a family history of cancer, the reduction in risk with breastfeeding was similar to taking an anti-estrogen drug such as Tamoxifen for 5 years. Additionally, how long the woman breastfed seemed to be less significant than whether or not she had breastfed at all.
The authors suspect that the link between breastfeeding and breast cancer risk stems from the fact that when women do not breastfeed, inflammation and engorgement shortly after birth causes changes in breast tissue that may increase risk for breast cancer.
