Pamela asks: <Does anyone have any thoughts about whether another cause of lower breast cancer rates in the over 50s just might be because breastfeeding rates started to increase in a meaningful way in the US about 25 years earlier?> My CNN home page had this as one of their feature stories today, complete with long blog full of comments, 99% from women, many from those who described terrible suffering of menopausal symptoms when their HRT was discontinued. Others were completely on the opposite side of the issue, in favor of avoiding HRT to take "every possible way to avoid breast cancer risks". Several younger women brought up the obvious question that if HRT is so bad, then what about the hormones in years and years worth of various types of BCP?? No one mentioned a word, let alone a question about breastfeeding's effect on either pre- or post-menopausal breast cancer rates. Before there are any good answers to your question Pamela, much future research will have to be done, which will absolutely have to include the breastfeeding history of each woman studied as well as her other reproductive history, genetic risks, HRT risks, etc. etc. as variables. There are no easy answers and apparently no totally risk free alternatives. Jean ********* K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC Dayton, OH USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html