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Breastfeeding can reduce breast cancer risk

Last Updated 15 September 2020, 21:03 IST

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in women worldwide accounting for almost 1 in 4 cancer cases among women. In India, more than 80,000 women lose their lives every year due to Breast Cancer. However, certain factors can help in preventing or reducing the risk of breast cancer. Few studies suggest that breastfeeding can reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Breastfeeding the child for a long duration after child-birth has been a common custom among Indian women. Changing lifestyle and urbanization, however, has resulted in a gradual decline in breastfeeding behaviour.

Breastfeeding helps in lowering the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women, especially when continued for 1.5 -2 years after childbirth. A prolonged breastfeeding period is associated with a longer period of lactational amenorrhea and thus reduced exposure to estrogen.

Several biological mechanisms have been proposed to explain the protective effect of breastfeeding on breast cancer risk. One of the proposed mechanisms is about how hormonal changes and alterations in molecular histology of breast that occur during breastfeeding may reduce an individual’s risk for breast cancer.

Estrogen and progesterone hormones released during the menstrual cycle increase the mitotic activity in breast cells thereby increasing the risk of Breast Cancer.

Pregnancy and lactation reduce the number of lifetime menstrual cycles reducing exposure to these hormones. Thus, there is a total reduction in exposure to estrogen, which is associated with proliferative and carcinogenic effects in breast cancer.

Differentiation or maturation of breast cells occurring during pregnancy is supported by breastfeeding. The differentiated cells have lesser chances of turning into cancerous cells.

The process involved during the cessation of breastfeeding (i.e. apoptosis) might reduce the risk of Breast Cancer by removing cells with initial DNA damage from the breast tissue.

Breastfeeding not only reduces the risk of breast cancer but also confers other health benefits to the mother such as the reduced risk for endometrial and ovarian cancers and reduced risk for chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.

Breastfeeding for a longer duration (> 12 months) is associated with more protection for breast cancer than lesser (< 6months and 6-12 months) duration when compared to no breastfeeding at all (Chowdhury et al., 2015).

The longer the duration of breastfeeding is, the greater is the protection. The risk gets reduced by 4% for every 12 months of breastfeeding. An inverse relationship was found between the duration of breastfeeding and the risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women.

According to various research papers, with prolonged breastfeeding, a reduction in the risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women has been reported. Younger age at first lactation was also found to be associated with reduced risk of premenopausal breast cancer.

Breast-feeding also has a protective role in females with BRCA1 gene mutation who have an increased risk for the development of breast cancer. Breastfeeding for one or more years conferred a significant 32% reduction in risk in BRCA1 mutation carriers. Women with BRCA mutation should be advised of the benefits of breastfeeding in reducing the risk of breast cancer.

As breastfeeding is one of the few known modifiable risk factors for breast cancer. Advocating breastfeeding and creating awareness in women will not only improve the child’s health but will also reduce the risk of breast cancer on the mother.

The need of the hour is various health campaigns which can educate women about breastfeeding behaviour and explain its contribution in reducing the risk of breast cancer.

While breastfeeding does reduce the risk of breast cancer, it doesn’t completely nullify the chances. It is important to screen your breast annually.

(The writer is CEO & CTO, NIRAMAI)

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(Published 15 September 2020, 20:28 IST)

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