Pregnancy Support

Mom + Fish = Clever Child

There is much controversy these days over eating fish during pregnancy, the concern being the exposure to mercury levels in some fish potentially causing harm to the fetal brain and nervous system. A recent study in the journal Lancet (Feb 2007) found that eating seafood while pregnant is beneficial for the cognitive development of the child. 11,875 women completed a food frequency questionnaire 4x during pregnancy and then periodically answered questions about their child’s social and developmental outcomes. Children whose mothers ate small amounts of seafood were more likely to be in the bottom 25% of verbal IQ at 8 years of age and demonstrate suboptimum performance on tests of social behavior, fine motor activity, communication and social development, indicating that the benefits of eating more than 340 grams per week of seafood during pregnancy greatly outweighs any potential harm from mercury or other contaminants in fish and seafood. For a list of seafood low in Mercury and other contaminants go to http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp