Friday, April 8, 2011

Breast Milk May Be Used To Assess Risk Of Breast Cancer, Study Shows

 from Huffingtonpost....


Breast Milk May Be Used To Assess Risk Of Breast Cancer, Study Shows



Newborns might not be the only ones who can reap the benefits of breast milk.
A new study suggests a nursing mother’s milk may be used to detect a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. Lead researcher Kathleen Arcaro, an environmental toxicologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, presented her preliminary findings at the American Association of Cancer Research’s 102nd annual meeting Monday.
“Other research projects are looking at smaller portions of the breast,” Arcaro told the Huffington Post, “but our study is important because breast milk is coming from the total of the breast tissue and the cells represent all of the breast.”
There currently isn't a definitive way to assess a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, Arcaro said. While it is too soon to draw hard conclusions from her study, screening milk could prove to be a less invasive and more accurate way to use cells to assess risk than conventional methods.
The study drew widespread participation from 41 states across the country, thanks largely to efforts by the Love/Avon Army of Women, an organization that recruited about 90 percent of the milk donors. It received significant funding from the Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs and the Avon Foundation.
“This study is unusual because it is not based on a single hospital or a single area; we wanted all nursing women with breast biopsies,” Arcaro said.
Arcaro and her colleagues, including UMass' Associate Dean for Research Douglas Anderton, collected milk from both breasts of more than 250 women (the study is ongoing) who were planning to undergo biopsies while lactating.


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