(ANSA) - ROME, OCTOBER 25 - Breastfeeding your baby, when possible, can also act as a shield against cognitive decline, helping to prevent it.
A new study conducted by UCLA Health researchers found that women over the age of 50 who breastfed their babies performed better on cognitive tests than women who never did. The findings, published in Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, suggest that breastfeeding may have a positive impact on the cognitive performance of postmenopausal women and could have long-term benefits for moms' brains.
"Many studies have found that breastfeeding improves baby's long-term health and well-being," points out Molly Fox, lead author of the study. "Our research is one of the few to have examined its effects on long-term health in women. show better cognitive performance among women over 50 who have breastfed, suggesting that this gesture may be 'neuroprotective' later in life. " The study focused on 115 women who previously took part in two trials, 64 of them with depression.
The results of some cognitive tests administered also revealed that the participants who had breastfed, regardless of whether they were depressed or not, achieved better results in learning, in executive functioning, which allows for example to focus on something and plan, and in processing.
In the second case, the correlation, especially for some of the functions investigated, was even more pronounced.
It also emerged that the longer breastfeeding lasted, the better the cognitive performance demonstrated.
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