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UK Wedding News

12/08/2014

Babies' Brains 'Grow Rapidly'

Human brains grow most rapidly just after birth, a new study has claimed.

The new research, which has been published in JAMA Neurology, also found that brains reach half of their adult size within three months.

The team used advanced scanning techniques as part of their research and it was discovered that male brains tend to grow at a faster rate than females, while the areas involved with movement were said to develop at the fastest rate, and those associated with memory developed more slowly.

Through the findings, the report said that it could help to identify the early signs of developmental disorders in children; for example, autism.

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Led by scientists at the University of California, researchers scanned the brains of 87 healthy babies from their birth to three months of age. Immediately after birth was when the most rapid changes in the brain occurred, with newborn brains growing at an average rate of 1% a day.

By the end of the 90-day study, the experts said this rate had slowed to just 0.4% a day.

The cerebellum had the highest rate of growth and doubled in size over the three months, while the slowest region of the brain was the hippocampus.

Elsewhere, those behind the study found that babies born prematurely had brains 4% smaller than those born at full term, and despite 'early' babies then growing at a quicker rate compared to those born on time, their brains were still 2% smaller at the end of the three months.

Further research will now be conducted, with other factors also being tested, such as whether alcohol or drug consumption during pregnancy can alter brain size at birth.

(JP/IT)

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"Human brains grow most rapidly just after birth, a new study has claimed."