Later motherhood raises cancer risk

Delaying motherhood in favour of pursuing careers could significantly increase the risk of breast cancer, experts have found.

Women who put off starting a family until their mid to late thirties are found to be at greater threat.

Breast cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the most common form of cancer in Britain, with an estimated 39,500 new cases, compared to 38,900 new cases of lung cancer. Research by the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) and Imperial Cancer Research Fund show rates have leapt 20 per cent in a decade - coinciding with a trend towards later motherhood.

The CRC said: "Women are more likely to be pursuing their careers and put off having children until later in life. This could produce oestrogenic changes which affect their chances of developing the disease."