Why breastfeeding is so healthy - even for mothers

Breastmilk is the best food for babies in the meantime, even in the industrialized nations - where the breastfeeding rate has been very low for decades - got around. Breastfeeding protects children from dangerous infectious diseases and should even make them smarter.

But women also do something good for themselves if, as circumstances permit, they nurse their children.

A study published in the journal "Annals of Oncology" concluded that breastfeeding can protect against breast cancer. Thus, it reduces the risk of developing a very aggressive form of cancer, the "triple-negative tumor". This type mainly affects younger women, ie under 50 years.



Breastfeeding helps the breast to grow up

Marisa Weiss, head of the organization Breastcancer.org and head of the study, explains: "Pregnancy and lactation are important steps in the decades-long maturation process of the female breast." Breastfeeding only forces breasts to grow up and do their job, so "not lying around idly".

Sucking the child's breast would change the cells in the milk ducts, making them more resistant to cancer.

But there are even more benefits:

Breastfeeding also activates processes in the body that help it to finally complete the pregnancy and return to a life without a baby in the stomach. It is not for nothing that lactation by experts is also called the "fourth trimester". Incidentally, the fat metabolism is stimulated - so it can help to get rid of the extra pounds from pregnancy. However, that does not work for all women.

And: Another study from California has shown that breastfeeding can also protect against diabetes in the long term. The longer the women breastfeed, the lower their risk of diabetes.

For Marisa Weiss, the benefits of breast milk are obvious. "Breastfeeding is a relatively accessible, affordable and accessible strategy that can naturally protect women's health in the long term."



Still rate lowest in Europe

Weiss and other researchers argue that campaigns should highlight the benefits of breastfeeding. In fact, the rate of women breastfeeding their children is still very low in European countries. While in poorer countries, such as Senegal, up to 99 percent of mothers breastfeed their babies until their first birthday, in Germany, only 23 percent and in the UK even less than 1 percent.

WHAT I EAT IN A DAY WHILE BREASTFEEDING (March 2024).



Breastmilk, breast cancer