A new study has shown that women who suffer from migraines can be at an important lower risk to develop breast cancer. Christopher Li, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, stated that many of the types of migraine that most women suffer from are “known to be hormonally related, and also are important in the development of breast cancer."

The researchers saw a very important connection between hormones, migraines and breast cancer. The November issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention published the study which shows that women who suffer from migraines have 30% less chances of developing breast cancer.

The lead author, Li, said that the mechanism behind this connection is not entirely known, but it has to do with fluctuations in the levels of circulating hormones. He added that migraines have a hormonal component that makes them appear most in women than in men. The women who take oral contraceptives are more likely to suffer from headaches too.

In addition, pregnancy, which is a process during which a high estrogen state develops, is associated with lowering the migraines number. Estrogen is known to stimulate the growth of hormonally sensitive breast cancer. 3,412 postmenopausal women were tracked during the study. They were aged between 55 and 79 years old. 1,938 other women who were already diagnosed with breast cancer and 1,474 women without breast cancer were also among the 3,412 women.

The authors of the study wrote that "Women who reported a clinical diagnosis of migraine had a 33 percent reduced risk of invasive ductal carcinoma and a 32 percent reduced risk of invasive lobular carcinoma compared with women with no history of migraine."