Contraceptive pills are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in younger women, especially those who have taken the pill before a first full-term pregnancy, new research confirms. Chris Kahlenborn and others at the Mayo Clinic carried out a review of 34 case-control studies of breast cancer. They found that, among women under 50, oral contraceptives were linked with an increased risk of 1.19 over-all. Among women who had given birth, the risk was 1.29, but rose to 1.52 among those who used the pill for four or more years before a first full-term pregnancy. Among those who had not given birth the risk was 1.24.
The authors note that women are more likely today to use the pill before having any children and for longer periods. The higher risk of breast cancer may be "because the glandular tissue of the breast has not yet undergone the further differentiation associated with pregnancy". This differentiation inhibits the cancer-causing potential of artificial female hormones "and may explain the natural protection that pregnancy has been shown to confer." ~ "Oral Contraceptive Use as a Risk Factor for Premenopausal Breast Cancer: A Meta-analysis," Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Oct 2006
Most people do not know of the link between birth control pills and breast cancer, but it is a topic of conversation at our dinner table not-too-infrequently. You see, part of Tim's job is to "give people cancer", meaning he looks at glass slides of cells from biopsies and determines if they are cancerous or not. He tells me how much more frequently he sees pre-menopausal breast cancer and that more aggressive cancers seem to be hitting younger women.
No matter how much the medical establishment wants to ignore such findings like the study above there is increasing evidence that artificial birth control and abortion dramatically increase a young woman's risk of breast cancer.
On a positive note, the risk for the same pre-menopausal breast cancer is reduced by 10% for every year a woman nurses a baby. I've nursed for over 4 years now. But if I end up with 10 children and breastfeed them all, does that mean I have no risk??
1 comment:
Great blog--thank you. About your cancer risk, though. I think--it's just a guess--that maybe the meaning of the reduction in breast cancer risk being reduced 10% per year of nursing, it would go like this: 1 year nursing, down to 90% of the normal risk. Year 2, 90%x10%=90-9=down to 81% risk. Year 3, 81%x10%=81-8.1=down to 72.9% of the normal risk, etc. So 10% becomes a smaller absolute reduction for each year. But it's still a reduction. So theoretically, you'll never get to zero, at least not in your child nursing years. But you'll be way ahead of those who don't breastfeed at all :) Again, it's just my thinking on what I think that "reduction" figure means...
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