Breastfeeding lowers the risk of breast cancer, especially if a woman breastfeeds for more than one year.
According to Amy Van Deusen, a large-scale analysis of nearly 150,000 women published in ‘The Lancelot’ in 2002 discovered that among women who breastfed, for every 12 months of breastfeeding (either with one child or spread over multiple children), the risk of breast cancer decreased by 4.3 percent compared to women who didn’t breastfeed at all.
Then a study published in 2014 by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that women of African ancestry have a high risk of developing the aggressive and hard – to- treat forms of breast cancer called estrogen receptor-negative and triple-negative, and the risk actually goes up when a woman gives birth, but breastfeeding negates this risk.
There are several reasons why breastfeeding protects health;
*Producing milk 24/7 limits breast cells ability to malfunction.
*Most women have fewer menstrual cycles when they are breastfeeding (added to the 9 missed periods during pregnancy) resulting in lower estrogen levels.
*Many women tend to eat more nutritious foods and follow healthier lifestyles (limit smoking and alcohol use) while breastfeeding.
Women are therefore encouraged to breastfeed their children for up to 1 year at least especially if the family has a record of breast cancer.
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