"Mothers with Daughters Have Healthier Brains, Lower Dementia Risk Than Those with Sons" Shocking Study [Health Issue]

[Financial News] Parents who have daughters are less likely to develop dementia than parents who have only sons, according to a new study.

According to the UK’s Daily Mail and other outlets on the 3rd (local time), researchers at Hohai University in China reported that older parents with daughters have better memory than those with sons.
The findings, published in the journal Journal of Women & Aging, indicate that the emotional support provided by daughters may help reduce parents’ social isolation and thereby lower their risk of dementia.
In 2018, the research team analyzed the cognitive function of hundreds of older adults and their relationships with family members.
After assessing participants’ brain activity, information-processing ability, concentration, and memory, and then comparing differences by the sex and number of their children, the researchers found that parents who had raised daughters scored significantly higher on brain health than parents with only sons.
The positive effect was particularly pronounced among parents with an only daughter. The researchers suggested this is likely because caregiving and emotional interaction tend to occur more continuously in such families.

“In general, daughters provide relatively more emotional support, which has a positive effect on maintaining their parents’ cognitive function,” the researchers explained, adding, “This effect was stronger in mothers than in fathers.”
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reported that “in the United Kingdom (UK), around one million people are living with dementia” and that “more than 75,000 people die from dementia each year.”
It added that “dementia, the leading cause of death in the UK, is known to be exacerbated by loneliness and a lack of emotional support from family.”
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Soo-yeon Reporter