by Tanya Lieberman
You’ve heard it many times before: breastfeeding and breast milk gives your baby important nutritional and immunological support.
But could your breast milk – particularly African American moms’ milk – hold the key to preventing and treating breast cancer?
An ongoing study aims to find out. Dr. Kathleen Arcaro at the University of Massachusetts uses breast milk to assess breast cancer risk. And she’s hoping to find African American nursing moms to donate milk for her research.
Why breast milk? Breast cells are key in breast cancer research, but they’re really hard to get. It turns out, though, that they’re present in big numbers in breast milk. It’s now possible to examine these cells for changes thought to be related to breast cancer.
For ten years Dr. Kathleen Arcaro has been studying these changes, and her research has already led to some important results which may be used to develop new prevention and treatment strategies for breast cancer.
Why African American moms? The vast majority of the samples collected for this research have come from white women. Dr. Arcaro’s goal is to make sure her findings that apply to ALL women, especially because African American women have a different pattern of breast cancer than other women.
As an African American mom, you can play an important part by donating your own milk for this effort. It’s easy, quick, and makes a big difference! Dr. Arcaro’s lab will send you a kit, a questionnaire and a consent form, and you send it back (at expense to you) with your milk. They’ll also send you $25 in thanks for your time and effort.
You can learn more at the website of the UMass Breast milk Lab, and follow the lab on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Please spread the word, and thank you for your contribution to breast cancer research!
Note: If you’re an African American nursing mom living anywhere in the country and interested in donating a sample of your breast milk for this research, please contact Beth Punska at (413) 545-0813, or email her at epunska@vasci.umass.edu. More information is also at the study website.
Please also consider joining the Love/Avon Army of Women to ensure that breast cancer research applies to ALL women. Select “breast milk study” when asked how you heard about it!
Tanya Lieberman is a lactation consultant, working with Dr. Kathleen Arcaro to recruit mothers for her breast cancer research.