Getting essential vitamins and minerals during pregnancy can help a woman maintain healthy blood pressure into middle age, new research suggests.

Higher vitamin B12 levels during pregnancy were also associated with a lower midlife risk for high blood pressure. Women with double the amount of B12 during pregnancy had systolic blood pressure measurements that were an average 3.64 mmHg lower and diastolic measurements an average 2.52 mmHg lower than their peers with lower levels of B12.

The research constitutes some of the first evidence that the condition is associated with modifications in the brain before childbirth.

Subtle changes in the brain during pregnancy may help explain why some women develop postpartum depression. A study published March 5 in Science Advances found that women with signs of depression after childbirth had increased volume in two brain areas involved in emotion and stress: the amygdala and the hippocampus.

Pregnancy has a major effect on a woman’s body, both mentally and physically. But ever wondered why these changes occur? A new study shows that a woman’s brain actually changes when a pregnancy occurs!