Pregnancy and cancer

Discussion in 'Pregnancy' started by remnant, Dec 26, 2017.

  1. remnant

    remnant Member

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2016
    Messages:
    110
    Likes Received:
    17
    I read an article from a scientific journal that women who stay for long periods of time without or never getting pregnant for example nuns, are likely to suffer from some cancers. This is attributed to hormones produced during pregnancy that counteract malignancy. Can someone shed more light on this?
     
  2. Alexandoy

    Alexandoy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2016
    Messages:
    971
    Likes Received:
    261
    When I was younger, breast cancer was unheard of. When that disease started showing its presence before the new millennium, some doctors say that it may be because those women were not married and had not been pregnant. But now that breast cancer and cervical cancer are prevalent, specialists are declaring that cancer is more likely genetic and not caused by situations or conditions of not getting pregnant.
     
  3. Elsa

    Elsa Starlight Baby Employee Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2017
    Messages:
    556
    Likes Received:
    190
    I found an article at https://www.cancer.org entitled "Cancer Facts for Women" and it did say in cases of ovarian cancer, "Women who have never had children, who have unexplained infertility, or who had their first child after age 30 may be at increased risk for this cancer." Here's a link to the article if you want to know more: https://www.cancer.org/healthy/find-cancer-early/womens-health/cancer-facts-for-women.html
     
    Mika likes this.
  4. littlewitch66

    littlewitch66 Active Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2017
    Messages:
    353
    Likes Received:
    184
    I did read that breastfeeding can protect against breast cancer. My sister did not breastfeed her son and has just had a mastectomy as she was found to have an aggressive forum of breast cancer. I breast fed both my children so I'm hoping that this will protect me. Here is a snippet I found when I was looking through an article:

    "
    Breastfeeding
    Breastfeeding lowers the risk of developing breast cancer, particularly if you have your children when you are younger. The longer you breastfeed the more the risk is reduced.

    It is not completely clear why this is. But the reduced risk might be because the ovaries don't produce eggs so often during breastfeeding. Or it might be because breastfeeding changes the cells in the breast so they might be more resistant to changes that lead to cancer."

    However this is not to say that women who bottle feed will get breast cancer. I really wouldn't want to scare people as these theories are not cut and dried.
     
    Elsa likes this.
  5. Mika

    Mika Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 4, 2016
    Messages:
    515
    Likes Received:
    136
    That's true but it's also true that ovarian cancer is common in women having multiple pregnancies especially after the age of 35. If you read the experts you will find that 40 and above is the age when women are at the most risky stage.
     
    Elsa likes this.
  6. Elsa

    Elsa Starlight Baby Employee Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2017
    Messages:
    556
    Likes Received:
    190
    Yes, that's true and it's really sad to think that after giving birth to wonderful kids, women become susceptible to ovarian cancer in their later years, as if the difficulty of pregnancy and birthing are not enough sufferings for any woman :-(
     

Share This Page