How Morning Sickness Could ‘Cut Women’s Risk of Breast Cancer’

By Fiona MacRae

IT may make the first few months of pregnancy truly miserable, but research suggests that morning sickness can help stave off breast cancer in later life.

A study has found that mothers-to-be who have morning sickness are 30 per cent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who do not.

It is thought that a hormone often blamed for triggering morning sickness, could actually protect against the cancer, which kills more than 1,000 British women a month.

Lab tests suggest that human chorionic gonadotropin may stave off cancerous changes in the breast tissue.

Researcher David Jaworowicz Jr said: ‘Although the exact mechanism responsible for causing nausea and vomiting during pregnancy has yet to be pinpointed, it is likely as a result of changing levels of hormone production, which may include higher circulating levels of human chorionic gonadotropin.

‘Studies have shown that this hormone possesses several activities that have potential protective effects against cancer cells.’ The scientist, of the University of Buffalo in New York State, made the link after studying almost 3,000 women, a third of whom had breast cancer.

The women, aged between 35 and 79, were asked if they had had morning sickness, high blood pressure, diabetes or other health problems while pregnant.

Those who had experienced morning sickness were less likely to have gone on to develop breast cancer. Those most afflicted were least likely to have been diagnosed with the cancer. None of the other conditions raised or lowered the risk of the cancer.

Delegates at Society for Epidemiological Research’s annual conference in Boston yesterday heard that the link may be because the hormone protects against cancerous changes in breast tissue.

The hormone is produced soon after conception. Its detection in urine forms the basis of most home pregnancy-testing kits. It is also often blamed for morning sickness – experienced by up to 80 per cent of pregnant women.

Previous research has suggested that morning sickness may be nature’s way of protecting an unborn baby from exposure to potentially damaging foods.

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