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Women who have survived childhood cancer should be advised to breastfeed if they can, in order to offset the negative health effects of their earlier cancer treatment. According to Susan Ogg and Colleagues from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, making women aware of the benefits of breastfeeding should be part of routine post-cancer diet and healthy lifestyle recommendations.
It is estimated that one in every 640 young adults aged 20-39 will be a survivor of childhood cancer - 80 per cent of children and adolescents treated with modern cancer therapy now survive.
However, these survivors continue to face significant health challenges such as reproductive difficulties or cancer re-occurrence as a result of cancer treatment. The researchers looked at whether breastfeeding might result in the same benefits to women who have survived childhood cancer.
The examined previous studies on the impact of breastfeeding and on the long-term health effects of surviving childhood cancer.
They found breastfeeding potentially influenced positively bone mineral density, metabolic syndrome risk factors, cardiovascular disease, and secondary cancers.
"Alongside advice to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, abstain from smoking, use suitable sun protection, practice safe sex and take part in regular activity, women who have survived childhood cancer and are physically able to breastfeed, should be actively encouraged to do so to help protect them against the many lasting effects of cancer treatment," they concluded.
The  study is published online in Springer's Journal of Cancer Survivorship.

In cracking the genetic code and certain "epigenetic" features of a rare pancreatic cancer called Neuroendorcine or islet cell tumors, scientists at Johns Hopkins in the US have discovered clues as to why some patients live twice as long as others, bolstering the idea that perhaps cancers should be classified by the type of genes involved and not just by organ or cell type.
The researchers said their findings also show the importance of targeting the "epigenetics" of cancer, that is the processes that influence what genes do but occur outside of the underlying DNA chemistry of genes, when developing genetic treatments for the disease.
You can read how Dr Nickolas Papadopoulos, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues came to their findings in the 20 January online issue of Science.
Papadopoulos told the press that:
"One of the most significant things we learned is that each patient with this kind of rare cancer has a unique genetic code that predicts how aggressive the disease is and how sensitive it is to specific treatments."
Pancreatic neuroendorcine tumors (also called PanNETs) are rare but clinically important form of pancreatic cancer and account of about 5 per cent of all pancreatic cancers.
Some PanNETs release hormones that cause significant changes in the body, including variations in blood sugar levels, weight gain, and skin rashes. In Contrast, without these effects, the hormone-free tumors grow silently in the pancreas.
Co-author Dr Ralph Hruban, professor of pathology and oncology, and director of the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins, said the hormone-free tumors were often difficult to distinguish from other pancreatic cancer types.

Raspberries might prove a future tool in the fight against Cancer. New research reveals that extracts of the summer fruit kill stomach and colon cancer cell.
Consuming loads of black raspberries can prove effective in preventing colon ( the part of the large intestine that runs from the cecum to the rectum as a long hollow tube that serves to remove water from digested food and let the remaining material, solid waste called stool, move through it to the rectum and leave the body through anus. ) Cancer, revealed a study carried out by researchers at the University of Illinois, Chicago months ago.
Now new study shows 90 per cent of stomach and colon cancer cell were destroyed when exposed to an extract of red meeker raspberries, a popular variety in U.S.
Unfortunately, experts believe the anti-cancer effect is seen only when the extract is applied directly to the diseased cells, and not when the fruit is eaten.

The main reservoir for influenza viruses is wild birds, which can pass those microbes to domestic poultry, which can come into contact, and potentially infect, human beings. That is what has happened with the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, which has killed at least 306 people during the past seven years, not to mention hundreds of millions of chickens and other birds.
Now chickens Genetically Modified to prevent them spreading bird flu have been produced by researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh. This transgenic fowl would still die from bird flu but it wouldn't be able to pass it on to its cage-mates. This genetic modification has the potential to stop bird flu outbreaks spreading within flocks. This would not only protect the health of domestic poultry but could also reduce the risk of bird flu epidemics leading to new flu virus epidemics in the human population.
 Professor Halen Sang, from the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, said, " The results achieved in this study are very encouraging. Using genetic modification to introduce genetic changes that cannot be achieved by animal breeding demonstrates the potential of GM to improve animal welfare in the poultry industry. This work could also form the basis for improving economic and food security in many regions of the world where bird flu is a significant problem."
To produce these chickens, the Cambridge and Edinburgh scientists introduced a new gene that manufactures a small "decoy" molecule that mimics an important control element of the bird flu virus. The replication machinery of the virus is tricked into recognizing the decoy molecule instead of the viral genome and this interferes with the replication cycle of the virus. When the transgenic chickens were infected with avian flu, they became sick but did not transmit the infection on to other chickens kept in the same cage with them. This was the case even if the other chickens were normal (non-transgenic) birds.   
The GM Chicken still died from bird flu, however, so there's still much more to be done before scientists produce a truly flu-free bird.

A team of researchers at Arab Biotechnology Company (ABC) are claiming to have made a scientific breakthrough by developing a medical formula for treating Cancer using Camel milk. The new remedy carries  smart cells that can attack poisonous substance in the cancerous cells without producing any sides effects, they added.
 "The medicine, a combination of Camel's milk and urine, has been tested on experimental mice and will be test on human being," Abdalla Alnajjar, President of Arab Science and Technology Foundation said.
A female Saudi Scientist and faculty member from King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU)  and President of the Tissues Culture Unit at King Fahd Center for Medical Research, has discovered that nano-particles in the urine of Camels can attack Cancer cells with success. Her work began with experiments involving Camel urine, Cancer cells found in patients' lungs and culminated in injecting mice with leukemic cancer cells and Camel urine to test the results.
Speaking to the Saudi Gazette, Dr. Faten  Abdul Rahman Khurshid claimed that she was isnpired by Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) medical advice and that Camel urine consists of natural substances that work to eradicate malignant cells and maintain the number of healthy cells in a Cancer patient.
"This treatment is not an invention, but rather, taken from our Prophet's legacy," she remarked. A Hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari (2855) and Muslim (1671) claims that some people came to Holy City of Madina and fell ill with bloated abdomens. The Prophet (PBUH) told them to combine the Milk and Urine of a Camel and drink that, after which they recoverd. A swollen abdomen may indicate edema, liver disease or Cancer.
"We have researched and studied Camel Urine for seven years, during which we have tested the effectiveness of Camel Urine in fighting Cancer to prerequisites set by the International Cancer Institute," she explained. According to her published study on the subject, the clinical trial her team conducted on patients indicated that the medicine (Capsules and Syrup) did not entail any harmful side effects.