Should you need any greater incentive to do something special for Mother's Day (besides side-stepping all the grief you may experience should you forget your Mom's special day), consider the implications of this recent study that identifies a substance in breast milk that may kill cancer cells.

The component -- HAMLET (human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells) -- was discovered by researchers years ago by accident while studying the antibacterial effects of breast milk. More recent studies from Swedish scientists (review the links below) have begun to unravel HAMLET's benefits, specifically those triggering apoptosis (programmed cellular death) in 40 different kinds of tumors but not affecting healthy cells.

The most recent study found bladder tumors shrank in a group of patients only five days after being treated with a breast milk compound. And, in another study, the HAMLET-based compound, this time made into a cream, reduced the size of warts by 75 percent.

HAMLET's ability to kill unhealthy cells and not healthy ones may go a long way toward explaining why breast milk and breastfeeding is so beneficial for a baby's health.

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