February 05, 2026
Ryan Franco/UNSPLASH.COM
Pregnancy and breastfeeding were associated with long-term brain resilience in a new study, although researchers don't know exactly why.
Many moms feel scatterbrained, so it might seem counterintuitive that new research has found a link between pregnancy and breastfeeding and higher cognitive function later in life.
The findings, published by the Alzheimer's Association, take on a special significance considering that women are disproportionately affected by dementia. Nearly two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer's are women, the reasons for which are not fully understood.
To explore the link between female reproduction and dementia, researchers analyzed data from more than 7,000 women who each were around age 70. The women gave information about their reproductive histories and underwent annual cognitive assessments for 13 years.
More cumulative time spent breastfeeding and pregnant was associated with greater cognition, verbal memory and visual memory, the researchers found.
More specifically, women who had been pregnant scored higher on cognitive ability tests than those who had never been pregnant. Women who had breastfed had higher cognitive ability scores and verbal memory scores than those who had never breastfed. These benefits were similar in scale to the impact that being physically active and avoiding smoking have on improved cognition, the researchers said.
The researchers said they now are delving further into the way certain reproductive histories may offer protection against cognitive decline.
"If we can figure out, as a next step, why those reproductive patterns lead to better cognitive outcomes in old age, then we can work toward figuring out how to craft therapies — for example, new drugs, repurposed drugs or social programs — that mimic the naturally-occurring effect we observed," said the study's lead author, Molly Fox, an anthropology professor at the University of California Los Angeles.
