Reported in the 6-25-03 issue of Medscpe is this article from Reuters:

"Increased Duration of Lactation Associated With Lower Breast Cancer Risk

"By Will Boggs, MD

"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jun 24 - Lactation appears to decrease the risk
of breast cancer among premenopausal women, according to a report in the
June 20th issue of International Journal of Cancer.

"Although large cohort studies in Norway and the United States failed to
support a connection, "several case-controlled studies have provided
positive evidence for a link between lactation and lowered breast cancer
risk," Dr. Soon Young Lee from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health in Baltimore, Maryland told Reuters Health.

"Dr. Lee and associates investigated the potential beneficial effect of
lactation on the risk of breast cancer among 110,604 premenopausal Korean
women who had borne at least one child.

"Most women in the group who breastfed did so for less than 1 year (79%),
the authors report, and only 8% of those who breastfed had done so for more
than 24 months.

"Compared with women who had no history of lactation, those who breastfed
for 1 to 12 months had a 20% lower risk of breast cancer, the results
indicate. The risk was 40% lower for women who had breastfed for more than
24 months.

"The lifetime duration of breastfeeding proved to be inversely related to
the risk of breast cancer, the researchers note, even after excluding women
aged less than 30 years from the analysis.

" 'Breastfeeding is usually recommended [for] the infant's health,' said Dr.
Lee. 'But breastfeeding itself should be treated as an important health
behavior for women, as well as their babies.'

" 'As breast cancer is the one of the most important cancers, there is no
doubt that [public health officials] should encourage women to breastfeed
their babies and also provide the technical support and environment,' Dr.
Lee concluded.

"Int J Cancer 2003;105:390-393."

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