A new study is suggesting that how we are born affects how our brain develops, with a distinct correlation between brain cell count and having either a C-section or vaginal birth, according to the Daily Mail.
Brain cells die when a baby is born, supposedly as a way of getting rid of the brain cells that were created in an abundance as the nervous system was created. It sounds awful, but the body intentionally creates these extra brain cells and kills off the extra ones.
The way a person is born seems to affect how many of those extra cells die off, according to the new research. The study took pregnant mice and preformed a C-section on one and allowed the other a natural birth. While monitoring the litter's brains, they found that the C-section rodents lost fewer brain cells.
This is important news, considering how science is currently under the impression that vaginal births are better because they expose the newborn to many different bacteria that act to strengthen the baby's immune system.
Nancy Forger and Alexandra Castillo Ruiz from Georgia State University conducted the research, and they believe that more research is needed to truly unlock the secrets behind the developing brain, according to Brain Decoder.
"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 the journal Neuroscience.
