Revisiting the Advantages of Breastfeeding on Breast Health
This World Breastfeeding Week let us recap the many benefits breastfeeding can have on your health.
Breastfeeding or nursing is when you feed your baby milk directly from your breast. Medical experts and researchers worldwide strongly recommend that you exclusively breastfeed for at least the first 6 months. Even after you’ve introduced your infant to other foods, it is advisable to continue breastfeeding for the baby’s first year of life. The decision to breastfeed or not is a personal matter, but it is recommended to breastfeed if you are able to.
Breastfeeding – Your Baby And You
Breast milk contains the ideal nutrition for your infant’s needs. It provides abundant and easily digestible nutritional components, antioxidants, enzymes, immune properties, and antibody protection from the mother. Breastfeeding your baby can lower their chance of having asthma or allergies, becoming obese, as well as protect against a plethora of other illnesses later in life.
Breastfeeding promotes quicker weight loss in the mother due to the extra calories required to maintain a milk supply. It stimulates the uterus to contract and return to normal size and also lowers the risk of developing urinary tract infections. Breastfeeding reduces postpartum bleeding and the risk of developing postpartum depression.
Benefits On Your Breast Health
Apart from the benefits for your child’s health and your postpartum health, breastfeeding past the six-month-mark can offer more benefits and protection the longer you do it. It can confer protection against breast and ovarian cancers, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, endometriosis, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. It is hypothesised that during breastfeeding women undergo hormonal changes that delay the return of her menstrual cycle. This results in suppression of ovulation and lower levels of ovulation stimulating hormones, thus lowering a woman’s lifetime exposure to estrogen. Estrogen exposure is linked to an increased risk of breast or ovarian cancer
Breastfeeding Protective Against Breast Cancer
Breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women. The mechanism of the reduced risk can be expounded as follows:
- The process of lactation requires your breast cells to be engaged in making milk and reduces its chance of turning cancerous. To add on, the continuous turnover of breast cells during breastfeeding could decrease breast cancer risk through the elimination of cells with DNA damage and mutations.
- Fewer menstrual cycles due to skipped menstruation during pregnancy plus added lactation period reduces the exposure of breast cells to high oestrogen levels. Researchers found that for every 12 months a woman breastfeeds in her lifetime, her risk of breast cancer is reduced by 4.3%.
- Women who are breastfeeding are more likely to eat nutrient-dense foods and adopt healthier lifestyles such as limiting alcohol use and smoking.
Experts urge you to breastfeed if it is an option for you. Apart from the short- and long-term benefits to your child, breastfeeding also lowers your breast cancer risk. If you have any reservations or concerns on the breastfeeding don’t hesitate to reach out your doctor.
References:
The Benefits of Breastfeeding for Baby & for Mom. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/15274-the-benefits-of-breastfeeding-for-baby–for-mom. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Breastfeeding. Web MD. https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/nursing-basics. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Breastfeeding lowers your breast cancer risk. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/breastfeeding-breast-cancer-prevention.h19-1589046.html. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Breastfeeding for Cancer Prevention. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. https://blogs.cdc.gov/cancer/2019/08/01/breastfeeding-for-cancer-prevention/. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Breastfeeding History. Breastcancer.org website. https://www.breastcancer.org/risk/factors/breastfeed_hist. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Does breastfeeding affect your risk of breast cancer? Breast Cancer Now. https://breastcancernow.org/about-us/news-personal-stories/does-breastfeeding-affect-your-risk-breast-cancer. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Benefits of breastfeeding. National Health Service UK. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding/benefits/. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Breastfeeding May Cut Breast Cancer Risk. Web MD. https://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20090810/breastfeeding-may-cut-breast-cancer-risk. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Protective factors. Cancer Research UK. https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/risks-causes/protective-factors. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Lactation (breastfeeding). World Cancer Research Fund. https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/lactation-breastfeeding/. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Susan G. Komen Non-Profit Organisation website.https://www.komen.org/breast-cancer/risk-factor/not-breast-feeding/. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
Anstey EH, Shoemaker ML, Barrera CM, O’Neil ME, Verma AB, Holman DM. Breastfeeding and Breast Cancer Risk Reduction: Implications for Black Mothers. Am J Prev Med. 2017;53(3S1):S40-S46. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2017.04.024https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6069526/. Accessed on 30-07-2021.
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