Breastfeeding may reduce risk of premenopause breast cancer

To the well-known benefits of breastfeeding, add one more: It may reduce breast cancer risk for premenopausal women with a family history of the disease.

Harvard University researchers examined data on 60,000 nurses followed from 1997 to 2005. The 608 who had at least one child and developed breast cancer before menopause were asked about their breastfeeding practices.

Among the 111 women with a family history of breast cancer, those who had breastfed had a 59 percent lower risk of the cancer than non-breastfeeders - almost as much risk reduction as from taking the drug tamoxifen. For women with no breast cancer among close relatives, breastfeeding made no difference in risk.

Never having children is known to increase breast-cancer risk, presumably because the breasts don't undergo protective changes. But previous studies looking for a link between lactation and cancer have had conflicting results, according to the study, which appears in the current Archives of Internal Medicine. - Marie McCullough
Aspirin may benefit some patients with colorectal cancer

For many patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer, taking aspirin regularly could lower the risk of dying from the disease, according to a study in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Doctors from Harvard University tracked 1,269 men and women diagnosed with colorectal cancer that had not yet spread for an average of nearly 12 years. Among 549 patients who regularly used aspirin, 81 (15 percent) died of the disease. Of the 730 study participants who did not regularly take aspirin, 141 (19 percent) died of colorectal cancer.

The researchers found that the effect of aspirin was a lot more beneficial for patients whose tumors overexpressed COX-2, an enzyme that promotes inflammation and cell growth.

But patients who took aspirin regularly before their diagnosis did not appear to do better, even if they continued the practice. That suggests the possibility that tumors that grow despite exposure to aspirin might be less susceptible to it to begin with, the researchers said.

For many patients with colorectal cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body or organs, regular use of aspirin was associated with lower risk of death, the researchers concluded. - Josh Goldstein

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Personal Health: News and Notes Philadelphia Inquirer 08/17/2009