Fish During Pregnancy Helps Child's Development

Study contradicts U.S. government advice on limiting fish intake.

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter
Thursday, February 15, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

THURSDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Children whose mothers ate at least three servings of fish a week during pregnancy had higher scores in tests of mental function in their early years.

That's the conclusion of a new British-American study that conflicts with advice on fish consumption for pregnant women given by U.S. government agencies.

"For the baby's development, at the level of 12 ounces a week during pregnancy, the beneficial effects of the nutrients in fish far outweigh the risk," said Dr. Joseph Hibbeln. He is a clinical investigator at the U.S. National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and lead author of a report on the study in the Feb. 17 issue of the journal The Lancet.

That assessment contradicts advice given by two U.S. agencies, the Environmental Protection Administration and the Food and Drug Administration, which issued an advisory in 2004 telling pregnant women to avoid eating more than 340 grams of fish -- about 12 ounces a week -- because of the danger of mercury poisoning.

The new study found that maternal seafood intake during pregnancy of less than 340 grams a week was associated with increased risk of children being in the bottom 25 percent of verbal IQ at 8 years of age and with suboptimum performance on tests of social behavior, fine motor activity, communication and social development.

Hibbeln said the FDA and the EPA have been briefed on the results of the study.

Suzanne Ackerman, a spokeswoman for the EPA, said, "We looked at all the relevant information before issuing the guidelines. It is much too early to say whether one study will change the guidelines."

Veronica Castro, an FDA spokeswoman, said, "We have made no changes to our current information regarding pregnant women and seafood consumption."

The new study followed the children of 11,875 women living in Bristol, England, who had expected delivery dates between April 1991 and December 1992. The women were sent postal questionnaires about their diet four times during pregnancy and then periodically afterward about their children's social and developmental outcomes.