Eating Fish During Pregnancy Boosts Baby's Brainpower

Miia · Gold Member Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 390

Recent instructions to pregnant women that came from FDA about limiting the amount of mercury-containing fish in their nutrition may have the unintended effect of depriving fetuses of essential nutrients found in fish.

New studies show 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.

Cognitive abilities of 6-month-old infants were tested, and the results were compared to the amount of fish the infants' mothers ate during pregnancy and the amount of mercury in the mothers' hair. Infants who scored highest on the cognitive tests had mothers who ate more fish during pregnancy and had lower levels of hair mercury.

Researchers report that this is probably due to consumption of those fish types that have little mercury and high amounts of beneficial nutrients like such as salmon, canned light tuna and sardines.

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Eating Fish During Pregnancy Boosts Baby's Brainpower

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