New medical study.

Nursing mothers needn’t worry. A new study shows that breastfeeding does not increase breast sagging. University of Kentucky plastic surgeon Dr. Brian Rinker and his colleagues conducted the study with patients at UK HealthCare Cosmetic Surgery Associates. The study found that breastfeeding does not adversely affect breast shape.

The results [of the study] showed no difference in the degree of breast ptosis (TOE-sis)– the medical term for sagging of the breast–for those women who breastfed and those who didn’t. However, researchers found that several other factors did affect breast sagging, including age, the number of pregnancies, and whether the patient smoked.

“Smoking breaks down a protein in the skin called elastin, which gives youthful skin its elastic appearance and supports the breast… so it would make sense that it would have an adverse effect on the breasts,” Rinker concluded.

Perhaps this is the message that will dissuade teen girls from starting to smoke.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 9:19 pm by Insider and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.