Embargoed by JNCI until 3 p.m. CDT Tuesday, Oct. 19
Contacts:
Leslie Robison, M.D., (612) 626-2902 (out until Thursday, Oct. 21) Joseph Neglia, M.D., (612) 626-2778
Teri Charest, Academic Health Center Communications, (612) 624-4604 [email protected]
BREAST FEEDING MAY PREVENT CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA,
U OF MINNESOTA STUDY FINDS
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL--Breast-fed babies are less likely to contract childhood acute leukemia than their bottle-fed counterparts, according to a University of Minnesota Cancer Center study published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The risk of leukemia was 21 percent lower for babies whose mothers reported having breast fed at least one month, and 30 percent lower for those breast fed more than six months.
Though smaller studies suggested breast feeding might reduce the risk of Hodgkin's disease, a type of lymphoma that may occur during childhood, this is the first to find a statistically significant link between breast feeding and prevention of leukemia, the most common childhood cancer. It afflicts about 2,500 American children each year and accounts for almost one-third of all childhood cancers in western countries.
"We have long known of breast feeding's health benefits in terms of protecting children from infection," said Dr. Les Robison, professor of pediatrics and principal investigator for the study. "Now we have evidence to suggest its immune-stimulating effects may provide another significant advantage-- protection against cancer."
This national study of childhood acute lymphoid and myeloid leukemia is the largest of its kind ever undertaken. The researchers interviewed 2,200 mothers from across the United States whose children, ages one to 17 years, had been diagnosed with acute leukemia. They then conducted matching interviews with mothers of control children of similar age, race and geographic location.
Based on the data, the researchers concluded that children who were primarily breast fed for any length of time had a reduced risk of getting leukemia, but the longer the breast feeding continued during the first year of life, the greater the risk was reduced.
"Additional research is needed before we can firmly conclude a protective role for breast feeding, but if these results can be confirmed in further studies they will provide additional support for the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics for longer-term breast feeding of infants," Robison said.
The National Cancer Institute and the Minnesota-based Children's Cancer Research Fund provided funding for this study. Dr. Joseph Neglia, associate professor of pediatric hematology and oncology, was a co-investigator in the study. Neglia and Robison are members of the university's Cancer Center.
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