The oft-used phrase "pregnancy glow" seems to now have some basis in science because pregnancy helps regenerate tissue and slow down the ageing process.
The effect occurs because of the shared blood between mother and child.
"As we age, it is more difficult for our tissue to regenerate itself. Because pregnancy is a unique biological model of a partially shared blood system, we have speculated that pregnancy would have a rejuvenating effect on the mother," according to a report in the 'Fertility and Sterility' journal.
It found in young, non-pregnant mice, 82 per cent of the liver had regenerated after two days and in older, non-pregnant mice, only 46 per cent had regenerated in that time.
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But in older, pregnant mice around 96 per cent had regenerated after two days, better than the non-pregnant rodents both young and old, they reported.
They also found that pregnancy protected the rodents from tissue damage around the heart, which is also an irreversible part of the human ageing process, said the study.
For the older of the two bodies, it is as if it has been injected with a youth serum from the baby it is carrying, hence the rejuvenating process affecting the mother.
Tal Falick Michaeli, Rubin Chair in Medical Science at Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School who led the review, has previously carried out research which suggests that pregnancy can rejuvenate the muscles.
The research found that the beneficial effect of pregnancy was temporary and lasted for about two months after delivery.