Eating Fish Makes Smart Babies
Women who eat seafood while pregnant may be helping enhance their baby's intelligence, according to new research published in Lancet in February, 2007.
On the other hand, women who ate less than 340 grams of fish each week (the recommended U.S. governament limit) have babies with poor communication skills at 18 months, poor fine motor coordination at age 3 and 1/2, and poor social behavoir at age 7. This is according to the study led by Dr. Joseph Hibbeln of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
This findings seem to contradict what American and British experts recommend - limit seafood and fish consumption to avoid potentially high levels of mercury. Mercury, found in fish in small amounts (due to pollution), damage the human nervous system, particularly those in developing fetuses. However, fish also contains omega-3 fatty acids are essential to the baby's brain development.
Nearly all seafood contain traces of methylmercury. Since mercury levels are elevated in some large predatory fish species - swordfish, tuna, escolar, snake mackerel, shark, marlin, orange roughy - pregnant women and children are advised to avoid their intake of these. You should NOT avoid fish altogether.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that fish considered safe for pregnant women and children are farm-raised trout and catfish, shrimp, fish sticks, flounder (summer), wild pacific salmon, croaker, mid-Atlantic blue crab and haddock. Health Canada included shellfish (e.g. oyster, clams, scallops, mussels), herring, cod, lobster, and lake white fish. You can safely eat 2 to 3 meals of seafood that is low in mercury in a week.
Gary Myers of the University of Rochester, New York studied pregnant women from the Seychelles Islands who consume a lot of seafood. He found no link between the relatively high level of metal in their bodies and their kids' cognitive test scores. He suspects that oils in fish may protect against mercury's toxicity.
On the other hand, women who ate less than 340 grams of fish each week (the recommended U.S. governament limit) have babies with poor communication skills at 18 months, poor fine motor coordination at age 3 and 1/2, and poor social behavoir at age 7. This is according to the study led by Dr. Joseph Hibbeln of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
This findings seem to contradict what American and British experts recommend - limit seafood and fish consumption to avoid potentially high levels of mercury. Mercury, found in fish in small amounts (due to pollution), damage the human nervous system, particularly those in developing fetuses. However, fish also contains omega-3 fatty acids are essential to the baby's brain development.
Nearly all seafood contain traces of methylmercury. Since mercury levels are elevated in some large predatory fish species - swordfish, tuna, escolar, snake mackerel, shark, marlin, orange roughy - pregnant women and children are advised to avoid their intake of these. You should NOT avoid fish altogether.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that fish considered safe for pregnant women and children are farm-raised trout and catfish, shrimp, fish sticks, flounder (summer), wild pacific salmon, croaker, mid-Atlantic blue crab and haddock. Health Canada included shellfish (e.g. oyster, clams, scallops, mussels), herring, cod, lobster, and lake white fish. You can safely eat 2 to 3 meals of seafood that is low in mercury in a week.
Gary Myers of the University of Rochester, New York studied pregnant women from the Seychelles Islands who consume a lot of seafood. He found no link between the relatively high level of metal in their bodies and their kids' cognitive test scores. He suspects that oils in fish may protect against mercury's toxicity.
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