Seafood is an excellent source of Omega 3, and fetuses need this fatty acid for brain and eye development. 8000 women were followed by Joseph Hibbeln of the National Institutes of Health, and their children were evaluated developmentally on communication, social and fine motor skills.
The Results at Age 7
It turns out children of women who ate 3 or more servings of seafood per week scored higher in verbal IQ scores as apposed to their counterparts (children born of mothers who ate less than 3 servings per week) who showed less than optimal brain development.
Opposing Recommended Intakes
Pregnant women have previously been warned to limit intake of seafood to about 1 serving per month due to warnings that too much mercury (a neurotoxin commonly found in fish) may inhibit brain development in children, but "We recorded no evidence that lends support to the warning of the U.S. advisory that pregnant women should limit their seafood consumption" the study's author concluded.
"These results highlight the importance on including fish in the maternal diet during pregnancy and lend support to popular opinion that fish is brain food."
Did you eat fish while pregnant? Did the recommended limitations on fish intakes affect your eating habits?
8 comments:
Interesting!
I think that the US warnings were based on Tuna? maybe?
Tuna, salmon, shark, and other freshwater fish yes. This includes canned fish. The larger the fish, the more mercury typically found as they have been in the water longer.
This morning I saw on BT that women pregnant can eat up to four can's of tuna a week as long as in is yellowtuna. I avoided all together whne i was pregnant. But I ate lots of seafood
Both times I was pregnant I couldn't stand the smell of fish, so I just didn't eat it. (I usually love fish) I did however take omega capsules. This does seem like a hot topic lately though!
I hate seafood... lol.
I seem to remember Shark being mentioned as well in my prenatal books, as another no no so yep Big fish. :)
kyooty, how many children do you have?
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