A nursing mother’s breast milk could be used to gauge her risk of breast cancer, reports the Daily Mail.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts collected samples of breast milk from 250 nursing mothers who then underwent a biopsy to test for breast cancer.
The results of the biopsy were compared with DNA sequencing performed on the breast milk. Where the biopsy suggested the woman had cancer, the researchers found that the breast milk cells also showed signs of the disease.
Although the sample size was small and further follow-up will be needed, Dr. Kathleen Arcaro, lead researcher on the study, says that these findings are "sufficient to tell us that we can use the cells in breast milk to assess breast cancer risk."
Dr. Arcaro hopes that breast milk screening may one day be a routine part of giving birth in hospital.
"We’ll take a little sample of colostrum [the milk produced just before giving birth], and we’ll tell her how her breasts are doing. It’s totally non-invasive, potentially inexpensive, and really accurate," she said.