Abstract IA23: Reducing cancer risk by enabling women to breastfeed

In reproductive physiology, lactation follows pregnancy. In traditional populations, children continue to breastfeed for 3 to 4 years, suggesting that sustained lactation is the biological norm. However, cultural norms are markedly different; while breastfeeding rates in the US have risen dramatically over the past 40 years, just 22.3% of US mothers are able meet consensus medical recommendations for 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding, and only 30.7% continue to breastfeeding through one year. Evidence continues to accrue that this disruption of normal physiology is associated with adverse health outcomes for mothers and children, including higher maternal rates of breast and ovarian cancer and higher childhood rates of acute lymphocytic leukemia. These data suggest that enabling more women to breastfeed may be an effective cancer prevention strategy.In this session, we will review evidence supporting a protective association between lactation and cancer risk for mothers and children. We will further explore evidence-based strategies to assist women in initiating and sustaining breastfeeding.A recent simulation study found that enabling 90% of women to breastfeed optimally after each birth, defined as 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding and continued breastfeeding for 1 year, would lower population rates of maternal breast cancer and childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). In this MCMC simulation, authors considered the impact of a change in breastfeeding rates from curr...
Source: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Improving Cancer Risk Prediction for Prevention and Early Detection: Oral Presentations - Invited Abstracts Source Type: research