Breast feeding can reduce risk of an aggressive cancer subtype: study

Babies aren’t the only ones benefitting from breastfeeding.

Their mommies are lowering their risks of getting breast cancer.

According to a new study, women who breastfeed lower their risk of developing an aggressive form of breast cancer often found in women of African American or Sub-Saharan African descent.

The cancer subtype, called hormone-receptor negative, is an aggressive strain of the disease that is more likely to be aggressive and life-threatening, researchers said.

But breastfeeding moms reduce their risk of developing that strain by as much as 20 percent, according to the study published in the Annals of Oncology.

The findings are a collaborative effort from researchers at Breastcancer.org, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Washington University in St. Louis and the American Cancer Society.

Doctors said hormone-receptor negative breast cancers are more often deadly because they tend to be diagnosed at later stages, respond to fewer treatment options and are less likely to be cured by current therapies

In the United States, hormone-receptor negative breast cancers represent about 20 percent of all breast cancers.

“We need to encourage women who are able to breastfeed to do so for their breast health, in addition to the health of their children,” said the associate director for population sciences at Mount Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Institute.

“Further prospective research will be necessary to further understand the full impact of breastfeeding duration and its effect on other subtypes.”