On the fence about nursing that little bun in the oven? You may not want to miss the brain-boosting benefits of breastfeeding for you.
A new study led by researchers at UCLA Health has found that women aged 50 and older who had breastfed their babies performed better on cognitive tests compared to women who had never breastfed. The findings, published in Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, suggest breastfeeding may have a positive impact on your postmenopausal brain and cognitive performance.
The benefits for babies who are breastfed are abundant and well documented. This is one of the first studies that looks at the long-term health effects for women who breastfeed their babies,” said Molly Fox, PhD, lead author of the study and an Assistant Professor at UCLA. “Our findings, which show superior cognitive performance among women over 50 who had breastfed, suggest that breastfeeding may be ‘neuroprotective’ later in life.”
Great brain health is essential for aging well. When cognition is less than optimal, those losses can be a strong predictor of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is the leading form of dementia and cause of disability among the elderly – with women comprising nearly two-thirds of Americans living with the disease.
“What we know is that there is a positive correlation between breastfeeding and a lower risk of other diseases such as type-2 diabetes and heart disease, and that these conditions are strongly connected to a higher risk for AD,” said Helen Lavretsky, MD, senior author of the study and a professor at UCLA.
Because breastfeeding also helps moms cope with stress, boost infant bonding and decrease the risk of postpartum depression, researchers acted on a hunch that it could also likely lower the risk of AD.
Key findings from the analysis of the data collected revealed that about 65% of non-depressed women reported having breastfed, compared to 44% of the depressed women. All non-depressed participants reported at least one completed pregnancy compared to 57.8% of the depressed participants.
Results from the cognitive tests also revealed that those who had breastfed, regardless of whether they were depressed or not, performed better in all four of the cognitive tests measuring for learning, delayed recall, executive functioning and processing compared to women who had not breastfed.
Interestingly, the researchers also found that longer time spent breastfeeding was associated with better cognitive performance. When they added up all the time a woman spent breastfeeding in her life, they found that women who had breastfed the longest had the highest cognitive test scores.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Let Sleeping Babies Sleep!
