I wanted to share the pleasant surprise I had yesterday while driving to
work.  Health in a Heartbeat is a short daily radio segment produced by one
of the hospitals is our area.

Here's the url for the transcript:

http://www.shands.org/cgi/dynamic/Pub/Heartbeat_Detail.asp?PrimeKey=1440

Here is the text:

As the amount of evidence grows in support of breastfeeding's benefits for
infants, you can also chalk one up for mom: The more children a woman has
and the longer she nurses them can significantly influence whether she
develops breast cancer.


Oxford University scientists pooled data from nearly fifty studies,
representing tens of thousands of women worldwide. They reported - in the
medical journal The Lancet - that the risk of breast cancer slid
four-point-three percent for every year a woman breastfed.

The risk also dropped an additional seven percent for every child born.


Results did not vary significantly when researchers considered
characteristics such as a woman's age, menopausal status or ethnicity.


In recent decades, breast cancer rates have risen as childbearing patterns
have changed. Today, women living in industrialized nations are likely to
have only two or three children and breastfeed them for only a few months,
compared with the larger families that were more common a century ago, when
women routinely nursed their infants for two years or more.


Oxford scientists directly linked the short duration of breastfeeding
typical of women in developed nations like the United States with the high
incidence of breast cancer in these countries.


Experts speculate that breastfeeding reduces breast cancer risk by limiting
the number of menstrual cycles a woman has. Fewer cycles mean less exposure
to estrogen.


Researchers aren't necessarily advocating larger families. But they do point
out that prolonging breastfeeding has its benefits, for both mother and
baby.


Alicia Rudin, LLLL, APL, IBCLC
Gainesville, FL
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