Breastfeed/be breastfed to prevent cancer

The World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research has given their 10 recommendations to prevent cancer ("Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective"). Recommendation number 9 is -- you guessed it -- "mothers to breastfeed; children to be breastfed."

The other recommendations are:

• Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight.


• Be physically active as part of everyday life.


• Limit consumption of energy-dense foods. Avoid sugary drinks.


• Eat mostly foods of plant origin.


• Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat.


• Limit alcoholic drinks.


• Limit consumption of salt. Avoid mouldy cereals (grains) or pulses (legumes).


• Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone.


• Cancer survivors: Follow the recommendations for cancer prevention.

The report says:

The evidence that lactation protects the mother against
breast cancer at all ages is convincing. There is limited evidence
suggesting that lactation protects the mother against
cancer of the ovary. Having been breastfed probably protects
children against overweight and obesity, and therefore
those cancers for which weight gain, overweight, and obesity are
a cause. Overweight and obesity in children tend to track
into adult life.

Thus, the report recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months
of life, and thereafter, continued breastfeeding with complementary food.
The report explicity states that it supports the UN Global Strategy on
Infant and Young Child Feeding.

The report further says:

This recommendation has a special significance. While
derived from the evidence on being breastfed, it also indicates
that policies and actions designed to prevent cancer
need to be directed throughout the whole life course, from the beginning of life.

And the rest of the recommendations apply to complementary feeding, when babies start eating foods other than breastmilk.