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Nursing women are less likely to develop breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis and may have improved cardiovascular health.
Most women know that breastfeeding is good for their baby's health. But doctors and midwives rarely tell expectant moms that it's also good for breastfeeding mothers.
Nursing mothers reduce their relative risk of breast cancer by 4.3% over 12 months of breastfeeding, in addition to a relative decrease of 7% at each birth. Breastfeeding is especially protective against some of the most aggressive tumors, known as hormone receptor negative tumors or triple negatives, which are more common in African-American women, according to studies. It also reduces the risk of a third in women prone to cancer due to a mutation inherited from BRCA1.
Breastfeeding women are also less likely to develop ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis and may have improved cardiovascular health.
Yet only 16% – less than one in five women surveyed – said their doctors told them that breastfeeding was good for both mother and baby, according to a new study published in Breastfeeding Medicine.
"We have an ounce of prevention that could save lives," said Dr. Bhuvaneswari Ramaswamy, senior author of the journal and associate professor of medical oncology at Ohio State University in Columbus. "But do we fully educate mothers when they make this difficult choice? Because it's not an easy choice. "
While companies market infant formula claiming that their products are effective breast-milk substitutes, Dr. Ramaswamy said, "Infant formula is not going to help women live longer and be there for their families. ".
The new study was conducted among 724 women aged 18 to 50 who gave birth to at least one child. The vast majority of them had been breastfed.
Just over half of these women knew before breastfeeding that breastfeeding reduced the risk of breast cancer and more than a third said that the information had influenced their breast cancer risk. decision to breastfeed.
However, only 120 women reported that their health care providers informed them of the consequences for their own long-term health. Most of those who knew the health benefits of breastfeeding mothers had gleaned information from popular media or the Internet. And these women tended to breastfeed for much longer – an average of 13 months – than women who did not know the health implications, who breastfed for only nine months on average.
While 60% of white women surveyed knew that breastfeeding could reduce their risk of breast cancer, only 47% of African American women knew it and 54% of women of different or unknown race knew it.
At the national level, among racial groups, According to government health statistics, African American mothers have the lowest breastfeeding rates and are less likely to breastfeed for at least six months. Sixty percent have "already" been breastfed and only 28% are still breastfeeding at six months.
In comparison, 77% of white mothers, 80% of Hispanic mothers and 86% of Asian mothers have "breastfed" breastfeeding, breastfeeding rates at six months are 45%, 46% and 58% respectively.
Learn more about racial disparity in breastfeeding
Scientists do not quite understand why lactation helps prevent breast cancer, but claim that breasts undergo changes during pregnancy as they develop more milk production channels in preparation for breastfeeding.
The breasts eventually go through a process called involution that brings them back to their pre-pregnancy state and involves massive cell death and tissue remodeling. This transition can be done slowly through a gradual weaning or abruptly if there is no breastfeeding or only short-term breastfeeding. When this happens suddenly, it creates an inflammatory disease that is good for cancer, said Dr. Ramaswamy.
Dr. Marisa Weiss, founder of the BreastCancer.org website, who has conducted research in this area, often describes pregnancy and breastfeeding as a "bat mitzvah" for breasts, stating that breastfeeding "Finally forces the breasts to grow up". and find a job, make milk, come to work every day and stop laughing. This maturation process triggers changes in the milk ducts that make the breast more resistant to cancer.
Breastfeeding also appears to reset the body's metabolism after pregnancy, by improving glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity, by burning calories and by mobilizing accumulated fat reserves during pregnancy; which may explain why breastfeeding women have a lower rate of diabetes and other problems. .
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