Queasiness Perk

Feeling green? Eat crackers and think of the long-term payoff.

If you have morning sickness, you may be rewarded with 30-percent lower odds of getting breast cancer later in life. If symptoms are severe or persist into the second and third trimesters, your risk drops even further--a remarkable 40 percent lower than women whose pregnancies were morning sickness-free.

Researchers suspect the high hormone levels linked to nausea and vomiting may shield breasts from cancer. But don't skip future breast exams just because you had morning sickness. The study's results "do not mean that women who have it are without risk, or that those who don't are certain to get breast cancer," says Jo Freudenheim, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the University of Buffalo, New York. She reminds mothers that breastfeeding also lowers the risk of breast cancer.