Eating Fish During Pregnancy Boosts Baby's Brainpower

FRIDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Women who eat fish during pregnancy may help increase their infants' cognitive abilities, says a Harvard Medical School study.

The finding, published in the October issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, suggests that recent guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advising pregnant women to limit the amount of mercury-containing fish they eat may have the unintended effect of depriving fetuses of essential nutrients found in fish.

The researchers noted that while excessive mercury intake during pregnancy can harm neurological development in fetuses, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and other nutrients in fish may play a crucial role in the neurocognitive development of infants.

In their study, the Harvard team tested the cognitive ability of 6-month-old infants, and compared the results to the amount of fish the infants' mothers ate during pregnancy and the amount of mercury in the mothers' hair.

While elevated mercury levels in mothers were associated with infant cognition deficits, the study also found that higher fish intake by mothers was associated with higher infant cognition, especially after the researchers adjusted for mercury levels.

Infants who scored highest on the cognitive tests had mothers who ate more fish during pregnancy and had lower levels of hair mercury.

"The most likely explanation is that the benefit is conferred by consuming fish types with the combination of relatively little mercury and high amounts of beneficial nutrients," such as salmon, canned light tuna and sardines, the study authors said.

More information

The U.S. Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction has more about mercury and pregnancy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/2005102...power&printer=1

There has been a lot of discussion on Omega 3 levels and children. Most Omega 3 researchers would definitely put all pregnant women on Omega 3s, in addition to their prenatal vitamins.

It is thought that the first born children are usually the smartest because they receive the most omega 3s from their mother. It seems that most mothers never fully replenish their omega 3s after giving birth so the next baby gets even less.

They now have a lot of omega 3 supplements for kids in the form of cod liver oil, puddings, and even tiny capsules. Of course, they are flavored.