Non-Breast feeding & higher cancer risk???

mawhinney · December 2012

There was a comment by a cancer doctor in our morning paper that stated that mothers that did not breast feed had a higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Is that true? How much higher are the risks? What contributes to the higher risk?

leaf · December 2012

The inverse relationship between breast feeding and breast cancer may be due IN PART to the reduced number of menstrual cycles in women who breastfeed. http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/risk/factors

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22711317

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/reproductive-history

There is a lot we don't understand about why one woman got breast cancer and another didn't.

Whether or not breastfeeding/nonbreastfeeding is a significant predictor *for any particular individual* (as opposed to the risk in a large group of women) may be another story entirely. http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/23/1673.long (In other words, the science of breast cancer prediction is in its infancy. This paper opines that, with the possible exception of family history such as a significant BRCA mutation, our ability to predict breast cancer for any particular patient is 'better than the toss of a coin, but not by much'.

momof3boys · December 2012

The night before I was diagnosed with BC, I took an online risk predictor test from Komen. Results: I had a 2.7% chance of lifetime risk (I was 43)....

I breastfed three babies. Sometimes, there's no rhyme or reason. I had no risk factors other than being a woman.

ldcpt1 · December 2012

I also breast fed each of my 2 sons, the first one (now 14yo) for 13 months, the second one (now 11yo) for 12 months. At the time, I had read in numerous articles that breast feeding reduces your likelihood of BC. I am now 45, and newly diagnosed, having undergone surg last week. What I do recall is lower milk production, and more frequent clogged milk ducts on this affected side. I now wonder if somehow the clogging of the ducts made me more susceptible, or of the ducts were somehow altered to begin with?? My diagnosis was invasive cribriform carcinoma of ductile origin. Of note is that I have been drinking soymilk daily since my first pregnancy because of its higher level of calcium. So many questions, so many different answers...

Timbuktu · December 2012

Interesting IDC. I also had a breast infection on the side that had the cancer. They think inflammation has something to do with BC. Too many things going on to figure out.

My friend's grandmother died of breast cancer and she had 7 children and nursed all of them. She missed a lot of menstrual cycles. But I think hers had to be genetic because her daughter died of the same thing, It was a particularly virulant kind,

I've also heard that if you have a child in your teens you won't get bc. So maybe it's timing that counts?

No rhyme or reason is right! Let's hope they figure it out in our lifetime!

ldcpt1 · December 2012

Yes, I cannot say now that I would've exchanged formula for breast feeding my boys, but perhaps given more attention to preventing the clogged ducts by nursing or pumping more frequently. I went back to a full time work schedule each time, and that was when I experienced the clogging since I couldn't empty more than once during the day.

I'm sure we could inform ladies more than we do about preventing BC. It seems that you don't learn much about it until you're diagnosed...

leaf · December 2012

I think almost all of the factors that put women at higher risk of breast cancer (except perhaps a significant family history or intense radiation) are so small they can't be seen in an individual and only in large groups. There are exceptions in almost everything: there are certainly people who smoke their entire life, live a long time, and die of a cause unrelated to smoking.

I think I am not alone in wanting to find a cause-and-effect for bad things that happen to me: that way the world is not as chaotic. But as we all know, sometimes bad things happen and there isn't a good reason why.

Scottiee1 · December 2012

I breast fed both my boys, one for 2 1/2 years and one for a year, was never on HRT,

no family history, but I did have my first child at 35, which is supposed to be a risk factor.

exbrnxgrl · December 2012

Leaf, I agree with your comment. We all want to find that cause and effect explanation for bc. The straight line that connects A to B. I breast fed two children, no clogged ducts, no low milk production in the bc breast. Good diet, healthy lifestyle, BRCA negative etc.,etc. I didn't have children in my teens, but I doubt that will catch on as a major factor in preventing bc

Homebody · January 2013

I fid the ncbi article above extremely frustrating. It directly contradicts itself multiple times, saying that having kids late or having no kids or having one kid after 35 PROTECTS against breast cancer and then turns round and says the exact opposite, which is the received wisdom anyway.

I am SO high-risk, with a grandmother who died from bc, and a mother who is currently dying of it at Stage IV, and I've been on the Pill for 10 years total, and I'm 38 and no kids yet, but planning one...so I feel I couldn't be in a worse position regarding reproductive factors, but you know what, I'm sick of trying to tease out some individual meaning in these stats which apply to groups of thousands. It's ridiculous. I'm glad I didn't have kids before now because I've been able to fulfill a number of cherished dreams, and now I'm off for a sodding glass of wine! UP YOURS, BREAST CANCER!

(P.S. My mother had one pregnancy at 27 and another at 30. My grandmother had one lone pregnancy at 35. My mother got bc at 56 but my grandmother didn't get it till 80 and died as she never sought treatment. So go figure. Who says one lone pregnancy at 35-plus is a worse risk factor?)

ballet12 · January 2013

There are many other factors besides those related to pregnancy and lactation that seem to affect risk for bc. As someone stated earlier, it is difficult to pinpoint the risks in a given individual. I had a late pregnancy and breast fed, but my mother had four pregnancies, breast feeding each (at a time when it wasn't so popular). She was diagnosed with bc.

There are many factors related to modern life, that it is hard to get around. For example, the fact that we spend a lot of time indoors (or most of us do) reducing sun exposure and then natural exposure to Vitamin D. Also, with the invention of artificial light, we have basically lost nature's circadian rhythms. Dr. Susan Love, whose organization is promoting prevention research, has highlighted studies looking at individuals who work night shifts, and thus disrupt that cycle, to determine the risk of bc in that population. Exercise is a big factor, as well, certainly in affecting exposure to circulating estrogens. We exercise in an artificial manner. If we exercise at all, we go to exercise classes, etc. or we run once or several times per week, etc. The rest of the day, many of us have desk jobs that keep us sedentary. We use so many modern conveniences that during out "non-exercise" time, we aren't expending so much energy--cars, kitchen appliances, elevators, etc. all reduce the natural exercise we might do. The "inflammation" factor mentioned earlier is probably big--and the causes for that are, most likely, very numerous. I had severe mastitis in the affected breast, and less than two years later, I was diagnosed with ADH in that breast. I ultimately had three excisional biopsies and then later three lumpectomies on that one side.

FireKracker · January 2013

I had 2 kids in my teens.no family historybut i have dense large breasts and i heard that it one of the hi risks.also early periods.Well i got my first period when i was just past 14 and it ended at 40.

sooo many risks....sooo little info.When I tell all this to my BS she says booo....they have no idea what causes it and all they need is a few ladies for the study.

We got the damn beast...To me we pulled the short straw!!!!

They look in all the wrong places....FIND A DAMN VACINE?CURE...ENUF!!!!

Non-Breast feeding & higher cancer risk???

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