Breastfeeding and Ovarian Cancer Risk
- New research finds that breastfeeding for as little as one to three months will reduce a woman’s risk of getting ovarian cancer
- The risk reduction was especially prevalent in the deadliest subtype of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer – high-grade serous
- The longer the duration of breastfeeding, the more the ovarian cancer risk comes down
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While the new research found breastfeeding for a longer period of time resulted in a larger risk reduction, the act of “having breastfed was associated with reduction in risk of all invasive ovarian cancers, particularly high-grade serous and endometrioid cancers,” study authors say. For example, breastfeeding with one child for a duration of one to three months was associated with an 18% lower risk. If a woman breastfeeds for 12 months or more, that risk reduction rises to 34%.
Ovarian Cancer Risk Reduction
It’s already been well-documented that having children can reduce a woman’s risk of ovarian cancer. The new research makes the distinction that breastfeeding also plays a role. But there are other ways women can reduce their risk of the disease.
“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 discusses how women can reduce their risk of ovarian cancer.
“Those are two of the things that people actually can do if they’re able to have children and if they have a choice of what kind of birth control to use, then the oral contraceptive would be the contraceptive of choice to reduce the risk,” Dr. Berek added.
The ovarian cancer risk reduction when it comes to childbirth has been observed in several studies. Research from Oxford University in 2015 found that women with one child reduced their risk by about 20%, and the risk continued to decrease with every child after the first by 8%. This new research, though, is key in identifying that breastfeeding — independent of pregnancy alone — will also reduce a woman’s risk of being diagnosed with the disease.
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