Breastfeeding for cancer prevention

Yet another reason to breastfeed. A huge report just came out of the American Institute for Cancer Research that focuses on the most important lifestyle changes you can make to prevent cancer. Lots of the recommendations are the same as you've heard before for an overall healthy lifestyle and for weight loss: exercise, eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, limit sugary, processed and fast foods, limit salt intake. The one recommendation that I was surprised to see on the list was to breastfeed and to do so exclusively for at least 6 months. It's interesting to me because the whole focus of the report is on cancer prevention. So, in addition to the weight loss benefits, the bonding aspect and the numerous ways it protects the infant from illness, the mother gains protections against breast cancer and perhaps even ovarian cancer by breastfeeding. For you new moms and moms-to-be, if you needed another nudge to get you to breastfeed or to keep you breastfeeding, here you go.