Scientists have stated that a feeding mother’s chances of developing breast cancer can be found out by the help of breast milk.

It can be easily tested by assessing the cells in the milk to figure out if some genes are present in them that can be linked to the illness.

Experts state that these findings mean that in some years from now, all women giving birth in hospitals can give a sample of their milk to find out if their samples contain those genes.

This test will also mean that testing breast cancer will be cheaper now as children are borne by about 80 per cent of women.

There has been a 50 per cent rise in cases of breast cancer and the chances of one out of eight women will get this disease. This rise has been in the last 25 years.

The chances of developing this disease is more at the age of 50 and more but even in age groups below that, there are one out of five cases.

Tumors are not always detected by mammograms among women who are breastfeeding and have not attained the age of menopause so an effective screening system is not currently there.

Lead researcher Dr Kathleen Arcaro after conducting a study said, “Although the pilot study was small it was sufficient to tell us that we can use the cells in breast milk to assess breast cancer risk.”