Breastfeeding holds plenty of health benefits for your baby, but what about your health too?
Health on Female First
New research has found that breastfeeding for more than six months may help protect non-smoking mothers from the risk of breast cancer.
The same does not seem to hold true for smoking mothers, though.
Emilio González-Jiménez PhD, of the University in Spain, and his colleagues alalysed the medical records of 504 female patients who were 19 to 91 years of age and who had been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer from 2004 to 2009 at one of the city’s hospitals.
Women who had not breastfed their babies were, on average, found to get breast cancer 10 years earlier than breastfeeding mothers.
In contrast, female smokers were diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age and obtained no significant benefit from a longer period of breastfeeding.
The results suggest that for nonsmokers, breastfeeding for more than six months not only provides children with numerous health benefits, but it also may protect mothers from breast cancer,” said Dr. González-Jiménez.
Tagged in Breast Cancer Health Breastfeeding Women's Health