Breastfeeding May Reduce Mom's Breast Cancer Risk

A new study by Yale University researchers suggests that women who breastfeed for at least a year may reduce their rate of developing breast cancer by nearly 50 percent, compared to women who never breastfed.

The researchers compared about 500 Connecticut women diagnosed with breast cancer to 500 other women the same age who did not have breast cancer. They discovered that the women who breastfed for at least 13 months - or had breastfed more than three children - had about half the risk of developing breast cancer than the women who had never breastfed.

The study, which was funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health, was published in the British Journal of Cancer (2001; 84:1472-1476).

The same Yale researchers also recently published a study that showed Chinese women who breastfed for two years or longer reduced their chances of breast cancer by about 50 percent. Read more about that research here.

Some researchers believe that breastfeeding may help prevent breast cancer because breastfeeding suppresses menstrual cycles, or that breastfeeding helps eliminate toxins from the breast. Either way, current research is showing that breastfeeding is not only good for babies - but good for moms too!