Breastfeeding Lowers Breast Cancer Risk
Breast feeding Provides Protection from Developing Cancer
Feb 28, 2009
In October 2007 the World Cancer Research Fund UK (the WCRF) published the most comprehensive report ever on the links between cancer and lifestyle. One of the ten recommendations it made to incorporate into daily life—in line with the World Health Organisation’s and Department of Health’s recommendations—was that it is best for mothers to breastfeed exclusively for six months before adding other complementary foods.
Lowering the Risk of Breast Cancer
Using detailed analysis of 47 published studies, the WCRF found that breastfeeding lowers the mother's risk of breast cancer by 4.3 per cent for every year of breastfeeding. If every child in Britain were breastfed for an extra six months there would be around 1,000 fewer cases of the disease every year. Currently 39,000 breast cancer cases are diagnosed in Britain each year and 13,000 women die from the disease.
Breastfeeding cuts the risk of cancer by lowering the levels of some cancer-related hormones in the mother's body. When breastfeeding comes to an end the mother’s body rids itself of any cells in the breast that may have DNA damage and this reduces the risk of breast cancer developing in the future.
Women who were breastfed as infants have 25 per cent lowered risk of developing breast cancer compared to women who were bottle fed as babies. See “Exposure to breast milk in infancy and the risk of breast cancer” Freudenheim, J. 1994. Women who do not have the first line of protection by having been breastfed by their mothers may wish to take advantage of the second line by breastfeeding their own children.
Research has long shown that breastfeeding is good for babies, providing optimal nutrition, strengthened immune systems and fewer illnesses than formula milk feeding. Yet the advantages to a mother from breastfeeding her baby are little reported or limited to the perk of speedier weight loss postpartum.
Making Informed Choices about Feeding a Baby
Despite the convincing scientific evidence three quarters of British women are unaware that breastfeeding reduces a mother's risk of breast cancer. Many new mothers are making choices about whether to breastfeed without knowing breastfeeding can help reduce cancer risks for both themselves and their children. Mothers should be entitled to have this information readily available to them when they are deciding how they want to feed their babies and all information on baby feeding provided to new and expectant mothers should be independent, free from misleading commercial promotion.
Mothers also need to know that breastfeeding offers them protection from uterine and ovarian cancers too, as well as from osteoporosis, which if they choose not to breastfeed they have a four times greater chance of developing.
Currently in Britain fewer than half of babies (48 per cent) are still breastfed at six weeks. Ninety per cent of mothers who stopped breastfeeding before six weeks said they wanted to breastfeed for longer. Britain's rates are almost the lowest in Europe. See Protecting breastfeeding. Protecting babies fed on formula Breastfeeding Law Group (BFLG) 2008. Global Cancer Prevention Report BFLG February 2009 calls for controls on baby food marketing.
The prevalence of breast cancer in developing countries is lower than in the West. In developing countries, women tend to give birth to more children and to breastfeed for much longer. Breast cancer rates are very low in Japan, for instance, where around 90 per cent of mothers breastfeed. The explanation for this is often linked to diet but it seems possible that breastfeeding may play a significant part.
Perhaps the WCRF study will help change cultural attitudes and encourage more women to breastfeed for longer periods of time for both their babies’ and their own wellbeing.
