Black Mothers Who Don't Breastfeed More Likely To Get Cancer

By The Independent | Posted on: August 21, 2011
Nationwide, USA - African-American women who do not breastfeed their babies face a higher risk of getting an aggressive form of breast cancer than their counterparts who nurse, said a US study on Tuesday.

The analysis found that women who had two or more children faced a 50 percent increased risk of hormone receptor-negative breast cancer, one of the toughest kinds to treat.

But this higher risk was only present in women who did not breastfeed their children.

"African-American women are more likely to have had a greater number of full-term births and less likely to have breast-fed their babies," said Julie Palmer, professor of epidemiology at the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University.

"This study shows a clear link between that and hormone receptor-negative breast cancer."


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Black Mothers Who Don't Breastfeed More Likely To Get Cancer