Health

Breastfeeding increases cancer risk: Harvard study

According to the research, those who were nursed as babies had a 23% higher risk of acquiring colorectal cancer.

Concerns regarding a rising trend in colorectal cancer risk among those under the age of 70 have been highlighted by a recent study.

Scientists first noticed this trend in the middle of the 1990s, when there was a noticeable increase in instances in those under 50, at the same time when people born in the 1950s would generally start getting routine colorectal cancer screenings.

This growth has been around 2% every year since the mid-1990s, according to Kimmie Ng, a specialist in gastrointestinal oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

In comparison to a person born in 1950, a person born in 1990 today has a fourfold increased risk of having colorectal cancer.

Moms should not be discouraged a result of the findings

In a recent study, Ng and Chen Yuan, medical teachers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, examined data from about 160,000 women between the ages of 27 and 93. According to the research, those who were nursed as babies had a 23% higher risk of acquiring colorectal cancer.

A younger subset of this cohort had a 40% increased chance of acquiring high-risk colorectal cancer before the age of 55.

It’s critical to remember that additional study is required to verify these results and comprehend the underlying causes. The authors of the study stress that moms should not be discouraged from nursing as a result of their findings.

Breastfeeding

Breast milk is still regarded as the best form of nutrition for the majority of infants. It has a number of advantages, including boosting an infant’s immune system and lowering the chance of developing numerous illnesses and disorders, which can affect both mothers and infants.

Even though this study brings up significant issues, breastfeeding’s overall health benefits are still generally known.

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Dr. Shubhangi Jha

Avid reader, infrequent writer, evolving

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