(JNS.org) Breastfeeding can significantly reduce the risk of children getting cancer according to a new study conducted by Israel’s University of Haifa. According to the study, children who were breastfed decreased the chances of developing cancer by 60 percent.

“We asked the mothers in the study about breastfeeding, nutrition, exposure to pets, exposure to detergents, etc.,” said Dr. Keinan-Boker, a professor in the University of Haifa’s School of Public Health and deputy director of the Israeli Health Ministry’s Center for Disease Control.

Additionally, the study compared children who were exclusively breastfed up until four months old with children who stopped being breastfed before that age, and found that those who were exclusively breastfed had decreased the chances of getting cancer by 40%.

The study, which was funded by the Israel Cancer Association, interviewed 190 people whose children developed leukemia or lymphoma before the age of 19 as well as 348 mothers from healthy children.