This is Pink October when pink clothing is popular and products are redesigned in pink to promote breast cancer awareness, research, and prevention. Unfortunately, Pink October “breast cancer” articles invariably fail to mention the protective benefit of breastfeeding.
An astounding 2007 study by the American Institute for Cancer Research and World Cancer Research Fund
The 517-page November 2007 report titled Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer was the result of a five-year study involving nine independent teams of scientists, hundreds of peer reviewers, and 21 international experts who reviewed over 7,000 large-scale studies on all aspects of cancer.
The study reported a 2% drop in breast cancer risk for each five months of breastfeeding and concluded that breastfeeding lowers the risk for both pre- and post-menopausal breast cancer. As indicated by the title, the studies looked at all the variables. Of great importance, they found that lactation was the only variable that lowered the risk of breast cancer throughout a woman’s life! Two likely reasons were given.
1) Lactation delays the return of menstruation, and having fewer menstrual cycles over a lifetime tends to reduce the risk for breast cancer.
2) Physical changes in the breast cells during lactation tend to make the breast cells more resistant to mutations that can lead to cancer.
Breastfeeding also protects the child from cancer because breastfeeding reduces the child’s chance of being overweight, a risk factor for cancer.
The breastfeeding recommendation of the AICR and WCRF is simple: Mothers should aim to breastfeed exclusively up to six months and continue with complementary feeding thereafter. “Exclusively” is defined in the study as “only breast milk—no water, other liquids or solids.”
The results of the AICR/WCRF study confirm another excellent study which found that “the relative risk of breast cancer decreased by 4.3% for every 12 months of breastfeeding in addition to a decrease of 7% for each birth.” Unfortunately, most mothers quit breastfeeding within 4 to 6 months. However, if mothers in developed countries averaged 2.5 children and breastfed each child for 6 months longer than they currently do, about 25,000 fewer breast cancers would occur each year. If mothers breastfed 12 months longer than usual, there would be about 50,000 fewer breast cancers each year (The Lancet 360:187-195, July 20, 2002).
The importance of the Seven Standards
The Seven Standards of ecological breastfeeding are associated with natural child spacing via 1) exclusive breastfeeding, 2) extended breastfeeding, and 3) a lengthy absence of menstrual cycles. These three events are associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. The frequent nursing of ecological breastfeeding provides the best odds for long-term nursing and therefore the best protection against breast cancer.
Share this with your friends, especially during Pick October!
Sheila Kippley
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor, 2008
Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing, 2008, classic 1974 edition
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood, 2005
www.nfpandmore.org