Breast Health Book Breast Gland Function

It secretes milk to complete breastfeeding and participates in the regulation of the endocrine system to maintain hormone homeostasis. The rest related to sexual arousal and body appearance are non-essential derived functions.

A while ago, I accompanied a friend to a community hospital for an annual breast screening. The old clinic director touched her breasts and said with a smile that so many young girls now come for examinations. They can’t even tell which part of the breast is fat and which part is breast glands, let alone understand what the breasts do. The money spent on annual physical examinations is wasted.

Talking about the most well-known function of breastfeeding, what is interesting is that practitioners in different fields have really different views on this point. Many breast surgeons I have contacted will recommend using a breast pump to empty the remaining milk to avoid stasis. However, the more mainstream view among the international lactation consultant group is that as long as the baby latch on correctly, there is no need for additional emptying. On the contrary, excessive emptying will send the wrong signal to the body that "milk is not enough and it is necessary to produce more". Subsequent milk production will exceed the baby's needs, making it easier for the baby to have repeated milk blockage. I met a new mother before who listened to both views. She emptied her breasts for a while and not for a while. She had mastitis blocked three times. In the end, she made a compromise. If the baby still felt obvious bloating after drinking, she sucked it until it stopped. Instead, she never had any problems again.

What many people don’t know is that the breast is actually one of the most sensitive organs in the body to hormonal changes, and is even more sensitive than the endometrium we are familiar with. Last year, a 27-year-old girl came to me for consultation. She said that she had lost weight for three months and only ate boiled vegetables for three meals. Her aunt delayed it for half a month. Every time her menstruation was about to start, her chest hurt so much that she couldn’t even put on underwear. She had no nodules after a color ultrasound. Later, when she checked her sex hormones, it was discovered that her estrogen and progesterone levels were very disordered. It’s a mess, and the number of estrogen and progesterone receptors distributed on the breast is much higher than that of many other organs. If the hormone fluctuates slightly, it will send you a signal first. This is why many people experience chest swelling and pain before menstruation. In fact, it is not that there is a big problem with the breast gland, but it is reminding you that "your hormones have not been stable recently." There is also a controversial topic here: Is the "breast massage to regulate endocrine" that is so popular on the market reliable? Objectively speaking, in the regular Chinese medicine system, there is indeed a method to relieve premenstrual distension and pain by massaging the breast root and Tanzhong acupoints, but the premise is that you have been screened in advance to rule out organic problems such as breast nodules and tumors. If you have a lump of unknown nature, pressing it casually may stimulate the growth or even spread of the lump. Breast surgeons in regular hospitals will basically not recommend that you go to outside beauty salons for breast massage with vigorous rubbing. This is really important to keep in mind.

As for the functions of sexual arousal and posture support that many people are concerned about, they are actually derived functions of the breast and are not core requirements. To tell you something interesting, I have met several flat-chested girls who were very anxious when they were preparing for pregnancy. They said that if their breasts were so small, would they definitely have no milk in the future? In fact, it is completely a blind worry. More than 80% of what we usually call big or small breasts is determined by fat thickness. The proportion of breast tissue that actually performs the lactation function is only about 20%. There is no positive correlation between the two. Last year I met a new mother who wore an A cup. She had so much milk that even her twins couldn't finish it. She had a drawer full of frozen milk in the refrigerator. On the contrary, there was another girl who was a C cup. She had a small proportion of breast tissue. After two months of chasing milk, there was still not enough for her baby to drink. In the end, she had to mix feed her baby. Some people say that massaging the breasts can enlarge the breasts. In fact, after puberty, except during pregnancy and lactation, the mammary glands will physiologically enlarge due to the influence of hormones. At other times, the breast tissue will basically not develop again. Those who feel that their breasts are enlarged after massaging are basically swollen and shrink back after two days. This is purely an IQ tax.

I have been doing breast health science popularization for almost 6 years. I have found that people have too many misunderstandings about the breast. They either deify its function and think that it can cure diseases and enlarge the breasts with a single press, or they regard it as irrelevant and think it has no other use except breastfeeding. Some women even think that after menopause, their breasts are useless and they are too lazy to do annual screenings. In fact, even after menopause, the receptors on the breast glands will still participate in the metabolic regulation of hormones. If something goes wrong, it will affect the state of the entire body. It is not as simple as "cut it and everything will be fine."

The little post-00s girl who asked me a while ago, "Are breast glands only for breastfeeding?" sent me a message a few days ago, saying that she now feels for lumps in her breast glands every time she takes a shower. She has recently adjusted her work and rest schedule, and her premenstrual chest pain is much better. You see, understanding what the parts of your body are used for is much more useful than hoarding a bunch of useless health products.