Breastfeeding is usually encouraged because of the health benefits for the baby. According to a new study, some mothers may get significant benefits as well. Data from the second Nurses’ Health Study between 1997 and 2005 included 60,000 women who were 42 or younger at the outset of the study. The overall reduction in premenopausal breast cancer was about 25 percent among women who had nursed their infants. Women who had a close relative with breast cancer got the biggest effect. They were almost 60 percent less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer if they had breast-fed their babies. The data keep accumulating that breastfeeding is a win-win proposition.
[Archives of Internal Medicine, Aug 10/24, 2009]
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/169/15/1364?home
