Breast cancer

Asking mothers why they choose to breastfeed their children most answers will be oriented to the health and well-being of their child. But for mom as well breastfeeding is profitable. The uterus will more easily return to its pre-pregnant state and the fat stores aid for breastfeeding during pregnancy will melt away as if by itself and even in the long-term mom’s health prognosis is better. Researchers have found independently that the lifetime amount of months spent breastfeeding is a strong predictive factor for breast cancer risk. De Silva et al (2010) noted that for each 12 months added to total life-time breastfeeding duration breastfeeding risk was strongly reduced: 12-23 months – 66%, 24-35 months – 87%, and 36-47 months -94%. A mean of at least a year breastfeeding per child also showed significant decreased risk. The researched warn that passive smoking increases breast cancer risk. Awatef c.s. (2010), too, noted a significant association with both life-time breastfeeding total as mean breastfeeding duration per child. They showed a significant decrease of risk for both pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer in women who breastfed for 73-108 and more than 108 months. In this study the protective effect was stronger for total life-time months of breastfeeding then for mean duration per child.
De Silva M, Senarath U, Gunatilake M, Lokuhetty D: Prolonged breastfeeding reduces risk of breast cancer in Sri Lankan women: A case-control study. Cancer Epidemiology, 2010, 34(3):267-273
Awatef M, Olfa G, Imed H, Kacem M, Imen C, Rim C, Mohamed B, Slim B: Breastfeeding reduces breast cancer risk: a case–control study in Tunisia. Cancer Causes and Control, 2010, 21(3):393-397.