When women become pregnant, one of the first things they stop consuming include alcoholic beverages and fish. However, it appears that the idea that the mercury found in fish may harm the unborn child may not hold to be true.
UPI reported that researchers did a study that went on for three decades and focused on 1,500 mothers who consumed fish at a rate of around 12 meals per week. The expectant mothers who ate a high concentration of fish did not experience developmental problems in any of their children when they were born.
Edwin van Wijngaarden, who has a Ph.D. and is an associate professor at the University of Rochester Department of Public Health Sciences, helped to co-author the study and he said that “These findings show no overall association between prenatal exposure to mercury through fish consumption and neurodevelopmental outcomes.”
Guidelines from the FDA currently state that pregnant women should only eat fish around twice a week.
Medical News Today reported that the study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that the polyunsatured fatty acids such as omega-3, which is found in fish, were actually beneficial to the brain development of the children involved in the study.
Before the study, it was only a concern that the mercury could be harmful to the unborn baby, but there was never a link found between fish consumption and problems in development during childhood. In fact, fish contains nutrients that would be beneficial for children, including brain development.