Newborns Benefit From Breastfeeding

Newborns benefit from breast-feeding. This has been widely known in the medical community for some time. But what is becoming more widely known is that the benefits of breast-feeding extend to the mother as well. According to a study on WebMD, women with a family history of breast cancer who breast-feeding their infants reduce the probability of premenopausal breast cancer by 60%. Women without a family history of breast cancer and who breast-feed may benefit, but at a much lower rate.

But how does bread-feeding reduce cancer risk? The jury is still out as further research is being conducted. Some researchers are hesitant to tout the benefits of breast-feeding upon premenopausal breast cancer prevention, suggesting that before a consensus view can be established, results must be replicated in experimentation and in medical literature.

However, an article by Roni Caryn Rabin n the New York Times also draws a link between breast-feeding and a few other health benefits for the mother. For instance, mothers who breast-feed are less likely to develop osteoporosis, ovarian cancer, and heart disease. Even so, these results are inconclusive due to sociological factors such as education and affluence. Women with higher education and greater income a more likely to breast-feed than other mothers, and it is difficult to ascertain how these factors might impact the results of the study.

Another segment of the population also tend to have lower breast cancer risks: Women who take medications to suppress breast milk production have lower rates of cancer than women who bottle-feed.

While the biological grounding for these results have not yet been established, it is safe to say that a link appears to exist between lower breast cancer rates and breast-feeding. The details of “how” remains a mystery for now.