Breastfeeding & Cancer Risk
- Coco Austin, wife of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Ice-T, confirmed that she still breastfeeds her 5-year-old daughter Chanel. Studies have shown that breastfeeding is linked to reducing your risk of developing certain cancers.
- Recent studies have proven that women who breastfeed can reduce their risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
- It’s important that women know about this benefit when deciding if they want to breastfeed or not.
Ice-T and Austin, who have been married for 16 years, welcomed their daughter Chanel, now 5, in November 2015. She is the couple’s only child. Just recently Austin confirmed to US Weekly that she still chooses to breastfeed Chanel despite most women stopping the feeding process once the child hits 2-years-old. “A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, you’re not getting the nutrition after 2 years old. Why do it?’ And I’m like, My child’s eating steak and hamburgers. She just likes a little snack every now and then and more of the bonding between the mother. Why take that away from her?,” Austin told US Weekly.
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Breastfeeding & Breast Cancer
According to experts and organizations, breastfeeding has shown to lower the risk in women developing breast cancer (particularly an aggressive form of the disease called triple negative breast cancer). There are two reasons for this. First, the hormones that are produced when a woman breastfeeds may delay their menstrual cyclesthis, in turn, reduces the amount of estrogen her body is exposed to, and estrogen can feed cancer cells. Second, breast tissue diminishes during pregnancy and breastfeeding which can help remove cells with potential DNA damage.
Related: Breastfeeding May Lower Your Risk of Breast Cancer
Despite the science to back up the benefits, many expectant mothers are kept in the dark about the link between breastfeeding and cancer risk. According to a 2018 study at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC), only 16% of mothers were informed of the potential affect breastfeeding has on breast cancer risk by their doctor. Additionally, while only 8% of women said they chose not to breastfeed, 59% of those who abstained said they may have reconsidered had they known about these benefits.
Breastfeeding & Ovarian Cancer
In addition to reducing breast cancer risk, breastfeeding has shown to impact a woman’s risk of developing certain types of ovarian cancer. A 2020 study published by JAMA Oncology found that women who breastfed saw a overall decrease in their risk of the disease, particularly the deadliest subtype of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer, called "high-grade serous." Researchers conducting the study found that breastfeeding was linked to a 24% reduction in risk of developing invasive epithelial ovarian cancer. What’s more, the longer a woman breastfed, the greater reduction in risk.
The reason for this reduction can be attributed to the interruption of a woman's regular ovulation (which can also happen when taking birth control pills or going through a pregnancy).
"We know that having children can actually reduce the risk. Taking the birth control pill will reduce the risk," Dr. Jonathan Berek, director of Stanford Women's Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet in a previous interview. "If women have taken the birth control pill for up to five years and have had two children, they may reduce their risk by as much as 70% of getting the most common type of ovarian fallopian tube cancer. Those are very important things to know."
Dr. Jonathan Berek explains risk factors associated with ovarian cancer
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