LIFESTYLE

Breastfeeding Helps in Reducing the Risk of Ovarian Cancer

According to an Australian study

Vanessa Haber

7-May-2020

Breastfeeding Helps in Reducing the Risk of Ovarian Cancer

Photo: Gisele Bündchen

 

On May 8 of each year, the world celebrates World Ovarian Cancer Day. After menopause, women are more likely to have ovarian cancer, as well as women who have never been pregnant.

Ovarian cancer has claimed many lives, thus, early diagnosis and getting the appropriate treatment are a must. But did you know that breastfeeding can help you in preventing ovarian cancer?



 

An Australian study conducted at the Berghofer Medical Research Institute proved that women who breastfeed their babies are 25 percent less likely to have ovarian cancer. The study also showed that the longer a woman breastfeeds, the greater the reduction in risk.



Professor Penelope Webb, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

 

Senior Australian author and head of QIMR Berghofer's Gynaecological Cancers Group, Professor Penelope Webb, said that breastfeeding was linked with a lower risk of developing all ovarian cancers, including the most lethal type called high-grade serous tumors.

 

The professor added: “Overall, the risk of developing ovarian cancer dropped by 24 percent for women who breastfed, and even those who breastfed their children for 3 months or less had about an 18 percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer. While mothers who breastfed their children for more than 12 months each had a 34 percent lower risk.”

 

"The benefit of breastfeeding lasted for at least 30 years after a woman stopped breastfeeding”, Webb confirmed.


The international study involved researchers from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, who examined 9973 women with ovarian cancer and 13,843 control women from studies conducted around the world.

"The study results show a link between breastfeeding and reduced ovarian cancer rates, and reinforce the World Health Organization's recommendations that mothers should exclusively breast feed for at least 6 months if they can and continue doing so with the addition of complementary foods, for two or more years”, she said.

However, this study was not enough in discovering the link between breastfeeding and reducing the risk of ovarian cancer. Therefore, Professor Webb said more research is now needed to identify how breastfeeding affects cancer risk.