London, Aug 18 (IANS): Non-smoking mothers who breastfeed their kids for more than six months may be less prone to the risk of breast cancer, a new research has revealed. The same is not true for smoking mothers.

Emilio Gonzalez-Jimenez, of the University of Granada in Spain, and his colleagues analysed the medical records of 504 female patients, who were between 19 to 91 years of age and who had been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer from 2004 to 2009 at one of the city’s hospitals, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Women who had not breastfed their babies were, on average, found to get breast cancer 10 years earlier than breastfeeding mothers.

In contrast, female smokers were diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age and obtained no significant benefit from a longer period of breastfeeding.

"The results suggest that for non-smokers, breastfeeding for more than six months not only provides children with numerous health benefits, but it also may protect mothers from breast cancer,” said Gonzalez-Jimenez.