[illiderob]

Dining Dilemma

A new study suggests that a federal advisory urging pregnant women to restrict their seafood intake could do more harm than good. But what about the risks of fish-borne mercury?


Pregnant women may want to put fish back on their grocery lists. According to a study in the latest issue of The Lancet, the British medical journal, the nutritional benefits of seafood outweigh any toxic effects of trace contaminants like mercury. That's big news because many pregnant women are still following a 2004 advisory from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which warned them to avoid high-mercury fish (shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish) and to eat no more than 12 ounces of low-mercury seafood (shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, catfish) each week because of potentially harmful effects on the developing brain of the fetus. The new Lancet study suggests that advising pregnant women to limit their consumption of seafood could actually be detrimental to their children.
The study's authors looked at the behavior, fine motor skills and IQ's of the offspring of 11,875 British women who had earlier assessed their seafood consumption at 32 weeks gestation. Researchers found that the children of women who ate less than 12 ounces of seafood a week had an increased risk of poor social development and low verbal IQ. Meanwhile, women who ate more than 12 ounces of seafood a week while pregnant saw beneficial effects on their children's development. Yikes—tuna sandwiches for everyone? NEWSWEEK's Karen Springen spoke with Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the lead author of the study. Excerpts: The rest here...

[Kiliunjubl]

Well the Japanese eat a lot of it and all seem to live till the're 100 so it must be good for you. I love sushi too. Great that there is a food out there which I love and is good for you!

[Dynasty]

fish is good.. i eat quite alot already

[Cheeniandab]

Well the Japanese eat a lot of it and all seem to live till the're 100 so it must be good for you. I love sushi too. Great that there is a food out there which I love and is good for you!

yeah but they're all short, and who would actually want to live to a hundred? I know I don't

[newshep]

Fish is rich in omega's, brilliant for the little one

[leacturavar]

yeah but they're all short, and who would actually want to live to a hundred? I know I don't

Actually, they're not all short. The average height of Japanese people is about ten centimeters shorter than that of Westerners.