LOS ANGELES—Women over age 50 who breastfed their babies performed better on cognitive tests than women who never breastfed, according to a study led by researchers at University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) Health. “While many studies have found that breastfeeding improves a child’s long-term health and well-being, our study is one of very few that has looked at the long-term health effects for women who had breastfed their babies,” Molly Fox, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in the UCLA Department of Anthropology and the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, said in a statement. “Our findings, which show superior cognitive performance among women over 50 who had breastfed, suggest that breastfeeding may be ‘neuroprotective’ later in life.” Researchers said the findings of the study, published in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, suggest breastfeeding might have long-term benefits for the mother’s brain. Studies show when cognition becomes …