Summary: Breastfeeding for more than six months may offer protection against breast cancer — but only for a specific group.
You may have heard that there benefits of breastfeeding for moms — post-pregnancy weight loss, as well as a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, and ovarian and breast cancer. However, a new study, published online in the Journal of Clinical Nursing shows that protection against breast cancer is more likely a benefit for non-smokers, and not for women who smoke during breastfeeding.
While breastfeeding doesn't prevent breast cancer, the study showed evidence that it can delay the onset of the disease for 10 years in women who don't smoke.
The researchers found that non-smoking women who breastfed their baby for at least six months were diagnosed on average at the age of 68.4. That's more than a decade later compared to both non-smokers who had not breastfed or done so for less then three months and who were diagnosed on average at 58 years; and non-smokers who had breastfed for between three and six months (57 years).
For the study, Emilio González-Jiménez, PhD, of the University of Granada in Spain, and his colleagues analyzed the medical records of 504 female patients who were 19 to 91 years of age and who had been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer from 2004 to 2009 at the San Cecilio University Hospital in Granada.
Among these women, the researchers looked at different aspects of pregnancy and breastfeeding, and factors such as age of cancer diagnosis, duration of breastfeeding, family history of cancer, obesity, alcohol consumption, and smoking habits.
Their analysis, reported by EurekAlert! revealed that women who underwent childbirth and who breastfed were diagnosed with breast cancer at a later age, regardless of the patients' family history of cancer.
"The results suggest that for nonsmokers, breastfeeding for more than six months not only provides children with numerous health benefits, but it also may protect mothers from breast cancer," said Dr. González-Jiménez.
Breastfeeding reduces a woman's risk of breast cancer by 4.3 percent for each year she does so, the authors say. Both breastfeeding and pregnancy are thought to protect women against breast cancer by reducing estrogen levels.
For babies, breastfeeding — as well as avoiding exposure to second-hand smoke — reduces the risk of SIDS.
While smokers can breastfeed, they're usually advised to wait until after breastfeeding to light up (and wait 95 minutes afterwards to nurse). A better, and more advantageous solution for all involved is to quit smoking.
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