According to a new study, fish consumption during pregnancy may lead to better cognitive development despite concerns about increased mercury consumption among those who eat more than two servings of fish per week. These findings were presented in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study was conducted by researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA and the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark. Emily Oken and colleagues examined the association between prenatal fish consumption and child development in a sample of 25,446 children born to women participating in the Danish Birth Cohort study between 1997 and 2002. Data on fish consumption was gathered from a food frequency questionnaire administered when women were six months pregnant. Information on child development was gathered via an interview with mothers when infants were about six and 18 months old.

Findings showed that children born to mothers who ate the most fish during pregnancy (2 ounces per day on average) had higher motor and cognitive skills than children born to mothers who ate the least or no fish during pregnancy. Women in the sample tended to eat fish with lower mercury content including cod, salmon, herring and mackerel. Among women who consumed two to three servings of these fish a week, the benefits of consumption (likely associated with increased ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids) appeared to outweigh any risks posed by the mercury in these fish.

References:
 
1. Oken E, Østerdal ML, Gillman, MW, Knudsen VK, Halldorsson, TI, Strøm M et al.. Association of maternal fish intake during pregnancy and breastfeeding duration with attainment of developmental milestones in early childhood: a study from the Danish National Birth Cohort. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2008;88(3):789-96.

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