Food for thought. (Breast Cancer).

A new study of more than 150,000 women may shed some light on one reason lesbians may be at a higher risk for breast cancer than heterosexual women. According to the analysis published in the July issue of The Lancet, breast cancer risk drops 7% with each child a woman has and declines another 4.3% for each year she breast-feeds. Many lesbians are childless, and that could be part of the reason that they are at a greater risk for the disease, said Kathleen DeBold, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Mautner Project for Lesbians With Cancer.

But, she cautioned, lesbians weren't examined as a specific study group, so no definite conclusions about their cancer risk can be drawn from the research. The findings also fall to suggest a course of action to reduce the likelihood of developing breast cancer, short of conceiving and breastfeeding children. "And that's something no woman should run out and do just to reduce her risk," DeBold said.