Ep 219. Why Does Breastfeeding Protect Against Breast Cancer?
About this episode
This episode explores the immune mechanisms behind the link between breastfeeding and reduced breast cancer risk with Professor Sherene Loi.
We've known for decades that breastfeeding is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. What we've never fully understood is why. That question is what makes this research so significant. In this episode of The Science of Motherhood, Dr Renee White sits down with Professor Sherene Loi, Medical Oncologist and Group Leader at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, to discuss a landmark paper published in Nature that identifies the immune mechanism behind that long-observed link. Together they explore how pregnancy and breastfeeding appear to reprogram the breast's immune environment in ways that can persist for years, and what that could mean for the future of breast cancer prevention. It turns out the body's been doing something extraordinary all along. Science is only now catching up to explain it. You'll hear about: Why breastfeeding appears to reprogram a mother's immune system How T cells in breast tissue connect to long-term cancer protection What "anything is better than nothing" actually means for breastfeeding duration Why women's reproductive history has been missing from major cancer datasets How this research could shape future prevention strategies for…
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