After giving birth, the concentration of three important elements in the woman's body decreases! Evidence of reproduction is permanently engraved on the 'bones of life.'

The loss and harm caused by childbirth to women involves all aspects, whether it is physical, psychological, or professional development. Nowadays, with the great improvement of women's education level, coupled with the social development to provide some permission for women's reproductive freedom, many women have begun to think about the cost of childbirth, what does fertility bring?

Fertility permanently alters a woman's bones, meaning that the evidence left by reproduction is permanently engraved in the mother's body. Researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland, based on a study of primates, found that the alterations to a woman's bones by fertility are persistent and permanent. Women who have given birth have significantly lower concentrations of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, and changes in the concentration of these important elements are associated with childbirth and breastfeeding behavior compared to women who have never had children. The results of the study, titled "Elemental composition of primary lamellar bone differs between parous and nulliparous rhesus macaque females," were published in Plos one.

Studies in humans and rodents have shown that some adaptations, such as reducing renal excretion and increasing bone absorption, can meet the calcium and phosphorus needs of the fetus in the belly of pregnant women, and that the concentration of calcium and phosphorus in the serum of pregnant women is significantly reduced during the third trimester. To confirm exactly how life-cycle times such as fertility affect women's bone composition, the researchers analyzed primary lamellar bone, a bone type that changes over time and leaves corresponding biomarkers, making it an ideal reference for researchers to monitor changes in the body's life cycle.

In this study, the researchers selected rhesus macaques, a primate that died of natural causes at the Sabana Seca Field Station in Puerto Rico, as the study subject, measured the growth rate of lamellar bones in their femurs or thighbones, and used field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis to measure the concentration of calcium, phosphorus, oxygen, magnesium, sodium and other elements in the femurs of seven rhesus monkeys. At the same time, the researchers also accurately matched changes in bone composition to corresponding life cycle events based on veterinary records of these primate life cycle events.

Given the metabolic needs of bones involved in reproduction, the researchers predicted that the composition of bone elements in fertile women is significantly different from that of infertile women, that the concentration of phosphorus and calcium in bone tissue formed during pregnancy and lactation is lower, and that the concentration of magnesium in bone tissue formed during breastfeeding will be lower than that in bone tissue after weaning.

After elemental analysis of primate bones, the researchers found that the elemental composition of fertile women differed significantly from that of infertile women, with lower overall calcium concentrations in fertile women and a more significant decrease in calcium concentrations in the bones formed during fertility events in these women as bone resorption increased. On the contrary, the concentration of oxygen in these women did not change. This result is consistent with the literature documenting physiological responses to mineral requirements in developing fetuses and infants.

In addition, magnesium concentrations in bones are significantly reduced during the feeding of offspring in women who have given birth, differing from changes in calcium and phosphorus concentrations in bones in that the transfer of magnesium from the mother is delayed until after the birth of the fetus.

In summary, this study analyzed the elements of primate bones and correlated elemental concentration changes to life cycle events, and finally came to the important conclusion that "compared with infertile women, the concentration of the elements calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium contained in the bones of fertile women decreased significantly, and this change was related to maternal childbirth and lactation behavior".

In this regard, researcher Paola Cerrito said: "Our findings confirm the profound effects of fertility on the female organism, and further show that the bone is not a constant static organ, but a dynamic tissue that constantly changes with life cycle events."

The greatness of the mother is innate, and in order to conceive and feed the new life, the important elements of the mother must undergo a certain transfer, and this fate will continue from the beginning of the birth of the new life. The proof of conception and the evidence of reproduction are permanently engraved on the mother's "bones of life", and will never wither like an immortal flower.