Link: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/49676
Title: "Eating Fish While Pregnant -- Worth a New Look?"
Author: Elizabeth DeVida Raeburn
A study of 1,265 mother-child pairs showed that the benefits of consuming fish while pregnant were greater than the possible adverse effects of mercury. Women with the highest blood levels of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids had babies who showed improved performance on the Psychomotor Developmental Index, a series of tasks requiring conceptual or psychological functioning. The risk of consuming too much fish is the potential mercury poisoning, however, some studies show that there is no negative correlation between a pregnant woman's fish consumption and prenatal mercury exposure. However, others have reported consequences of consuming fish while pregnant, such as the risk of a child developing ADHD and ADD. In one finding, higher maternal docosahexaenoic acid was shown to improve language development scores on the CDI (Children's Depression Inventory), however, it was associated with adversely affecting the performance on the MDI (Major Depression Inventory). These findings could indicate the existance of an optimal DHA balance with respect to Arachidonic acid for different aspects of neurodevelopment.
Your article touches on where we ended research last year. We had started investigating n-6/n-3 ratio in the salmon samples we had already collected data. It seems to be a relatively "hot topic" in society (or maybe moreso for me since I was pregnant last year while we were looking into that data). A great article with relevance to physiology!
ReplyDeleteIts interesting that a reported consequence of consuming fish while pregnant is the risk of children developing ADHD and ADD. I read Ellen's article, which states that omega-3 fatty acids help the attention deficits found in children with ADHD and ADD. The relationship might be something interesting to investigate.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to apply to another article that rose the question of whether or not the omega-3s in fish contribute to brain volume growth. There evidently are many benefits to consuming omega-3s and the decreased fat storage could allow more brain growth, which could contribute to the fact that babies seem to have improved brain function. However, I feel that the risk of mercury poisoning is a frightening aspect of this study and personally I would want more research in this area of study before I would be willing to try it out myself considering the risks involved.
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