Migraine reduces breast cancer risk

In a puzzling twist, women who have a history of migraine headaches are far less likely to develop breast cancer than other women, US
researchers said on Thursday.

The study is the first to look at the relationship between breast cancer and migraine and its findings may point to new ways of reducing a woman’s breast cancer risk, they said. “We found that, overall, women who had a history of migraine had a 30% lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who did not have a history of such headaches,” said Christopher Li of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Li said the reduction in risk was for the most common types of breast cancers — those driven by hormones. Hormones also play a role in migraine.