
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994                   TAG: 9401130069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Short

TEEN NURSING, LOWER CANCER RISK LINKED

The longer mothers breast feed, and the younger they begin, the more they lower their risk of getting breast cancer before menopause, a large study has found.

It found that a woman who begins breast feeding in her teens and continues for at least six months cuts the risk almost in half.

The study found no evidence that nursing prevents the disease from occurring after menopause. Breast cancer before menopause is relatively rare.

Except for those who began nursing in their teens, the reduction in risk was generally small, about 22 percent. The finding still is noteworthy because breast feeding represents one of the few voluntary things women might do to change their odds of this cancer.

Experts in the past have wondered about the possible effects of breast feeding, but the data have been murky. Some earlier studies have linked nursing to reduced cancer risk, while others have found no correlation.

The latest study was directed by Dr. Polly A. Newcomb of the University of Wisconsin and published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

"There are a number of reasons to breast feed," Newcomb said. "First and foremost is to provide the child with complete nutrition and psychological benefits. But a woman might also consider the possibility that this could reduce her risk of breast cancer."

Her study was based on a review of 5,878 breast cancer patients in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire.

by CNB