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4 Surprising Breastfeeding Benefits Against Cancer
When you make your first appointment to talk to a lactation consultant, you’re bound to hear about the numerous advantages that come from nursing your child. One of the most surprising things you may learn about, however, is the breastfeeding benefits against cancer.
In the conversation regarding breastfeeding vs. formula, you shouldn’t ignore the relationship between breast milk and cancer. There are four key things to understand when trying to figure out how breast milk fights cancer and how this connection could play a significant role in your and your child’s lives.
Does Breastfeeding Help Prevent Cancer?
In understanding the breastfeeding benefits against cancer, the most basic of all questions is: “Does breastfeeding protect against cancer?” According to the CDC, the answer is a resounding yes! In addition to preventing diseases, such as Type 2 Diabetes and high blood pressure, nursing your baby also offers protection against breast cancer and ovarian cancer. While researchers are still evaluating this connection, it’s believed a reduced lifetime exposure to estrogen and other female hormones could play a role in the link between breast milk and cancer.
When a woman is breastfeeding, she often doesn’t menstruate for significant amounts of time. This will limit the number of hormones produced. Since continual exposure to these hormones increases a woman’s risk of developing cancer, it’s no wonder breastfeeding can be beneficial in the fight against cancer.
Overall protection is only one of the breastfeeding cancer benefits you’ll discover, though. There are more ways that nursing your baby can benefit your health in the long run.
Additional Breastfeeding Benefits Against Cancer
Now that it’s been established that nursing moms can most certainly decrease their likelihood of contracting ovarian or breast cancer, thanks to breastfeeding, it’s essential to consider what other breastfeeding cancer benefits you might be unaware of.
Breastfeeding Can Save Lives
Did you know that if all moms could commit to exclusively breastfeeding for at least six months, it would save approximately 20,000 women from dying of cancer? Sadly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that most children don’t breastfeed for the recommended six month period.
If you want the best breastfeeding benefits for you and your baby, but you’re facing various breastfeeding difficulties, it’s crucial to seek help from certified lactation consultants. These professionals can assist with infant care and help you figure out how to increase your milk supply.
Breast Milk Fights Cancer
Most nursing moms have seen the incredible ways that breast milk can help heal scrapes, scratches, and booboos. Given its outstanding healing properties, it should come as no surprise that doctors are now exploring whether breast milk therapy can help fight cancer cells.
The FDA has currently given the okay for scientists to further study the link between breast milk and cancer. It’s believed that not only could breast milk help prevent cancer from developing, but researchers have also said:
“the unique characteristic of the protein could potentially help battle cancer in adults”.
Connections Between Breastfeeding and Childhood Cancer
When it comes to breastfeeding benefits against cancer, our children reap just as many advantages as nursing mothers do. Based on an article from St. Jude, there is an apparent decrease in the number of childhood cancer cases among children who are exclusively breastfed for at least the preferred six months. These types of cancers include:
- Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
- Hodgkin Lymphoma
- Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
When it comes to nursing babies and cancer, though, the benefits don’t stop at prevention.
While medical practitioners and researchers have discovered ways to increase the survival rates of children suffering from childhood cancers over the past few decades, many of the affected children still experience lifelong difficulties. However, it’s now known that by nursing your little ones, the long-term effects might decrease if they do contract one of these diseases.
The Breastfeeding Cancer Benefits You & Your Baby Deserve
In a perfect world, no person, adult or child, would ever contract cancer. Regretfully, however, this isn’t the reality we face. If there was a simple way of increasing your family’s protection against this terrible disease, why not take it? The breastfeeding cancer benefits are undeniable. If you want to provide yourself and your little ones with the best protection against breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and childhood cancer, this could be an ideal solution. If you’d like to learn more about the breastfeeding benefits against cancer, it might be time to talk to a lactation consultant and find out more about how this process might help.
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