Pregnancy can permanently change a mother's bones, study finds
By
Mallika Marshall, MD
/ CBS Boston
BOSTON - A new study finds pregnancy can permanently change a mother's body right down to the bones.
Anthropologists at New York University looked at the bones of rhesus monkeys which share 93-percent of genes with humans. They found that the female monkeys who had been pregnant had lower levels of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus in their bones, likely related to giving birth itself as well as lactation.
It's not clear what effect these changes have on bone health but demonstrate that the skeleton is not a static or dead organ. Instead, it's one that changes with life events.
Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.