Mental Health

How You Were Born Affects Your Brain Cell Count, Study

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Nov 23, 2015 09:56 AM EST

You do not know how we are born---unless you're told, of course.

But researchers conclude that your style of birth affects how your brain develops. There is a clear link between brain cell count and having been born either through a C-section or vaginal birth, according to The Daily Mail.

When a baby is born, many brain cells die, so that the body can rid of the brain cells created in excess, even as the nervous system is built up. The body "intentionally" creates extra brain cells and sloughs off extra cells.

Hence, the way you are born tends to affect how many extra cells die off, say scientists. By operating with a C-section on a pregnant mouse, but permitting a natural birth for another, scientists discovered that the C-section rodents retained more brain cells.

So far, most scientists have assumed that vaginal births are superior because they make newborns get exposed to many different bacteria that can strengthen the baby's immunity.

However, more research is required to probe deeper into the issue, according to Nancy Forger and Alexandra Castillo Ruiz from Georgia State University, who conducted the study.

"We know these major organs - the heart, the lungs - are being prepared prenatally for life outside the mother," said Ruiz. "We know little about the brain."

The study was published in an article in Neuroscience.

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