Pregnancy and breastfeeding not only transform women’s bodies and lives, they may also leave a lasting mark on the brain.

This is according to a comprehensive scientific study published by the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, which analyzes the long-term effects of motherhood on women’s cognitive health.

Researchers observed that women who were pregnant and breastfed had better memory and cognitive function in old age than those who did not. Although the benefits found are not significant, they can be accompanied by habits such as not smoking and engaging in physical activity.

This research evaluated more than 7,000 women over the age of 70, who were followed for up to 13 years through interviews and periodic cognitive tests.

According to the researchers, this is the first large-scale longitudinal study to analyze how pregnancy and breastfeeding are related to cognitive performance in later life.

The findings challenge the popular idea of the so-called “mommy brain” as a permanent deterioration. This is a real and temporary phenomenon, manifested by difficulties in concentration, confusion, and forgetfulness.

According to the study, this issue takes on particular relevance in a context of rapid demographic change and declining birth rates.

Motherhood also shapes the brain

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia affect women to a greater extent, partly because they tend to live longer than men. The risk also increases significantly after menopause.

This is where motherhood could offer an advantage to women who have experienced it. The study indicates that the mammalian brain has evolved to reorganize itself structurally and functionally during pregnancy and lactation.

During pregnancy and postpartum, women experience a decline in cognitive performance that can last up to 32 weeks. However, according to the data, the long-term effects seem to go in the opposite direction.

In this context, the researchers tested two main hypotheses: whether a greater number of months of pregnancy is associated with less cognitive decline, and whether the same is true for the duration of breastfeeding.

The results show that women who had ever been pregnant scored higher on average on global cognition tests. In particular, each additional month of pregnancy was associated with better overall cognitive function in old age.

In the case of breastfeeding, the effect was even greater: each additional month was linked to better results in verbal memory, visual memory, and overall cognitive performance.

The authors point out that, during pregnancy and breastfeeding, attention tends to focus almost exclusively on the baby’s cognitive development, leaving the profound neurological reorganization processes undergone by the mother in the background.

A result limited by the samples

Despite the robustness of the sample size and longitudinal follow-up, the researchers caution that this is an observational study. This means that it does not allow for the establishment of a direct causal relationship between motherhood and better brain health.

In addition, most of the participants were white women residing in the United States, which limits the generalizability of the results to other populations. Genetic, cultural, and lifestyle differences, such as those in Costa Rica, could yield different results.

These findings do not imply a recommendation regarding reproductive decisions, but they do raise new questions about how motherhood could influence long-term brain health in the context of an aging population and an increase in neurodegenerative diseases.