International agencies and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are modifying the guidelines regarding fish consumption in an aim of highlighting the nutritional benefits that it can provide.
An update states that FDA is now recommending fish for pregnant women, no more than two times each week. The main reason for this limited consumption is the marine animal's mercury content- a world phenomenon that deposits environmental mercury into oceans.
Though the association of fish with childhood developmental issues has not been proven until now, experts have been concerned about the consequences that pregnant women will experience due to an elevated level of mercury in the body, the American Pregnancy Organization reported.
However, putting mercury levels aside, fish contains several beneficial nutrients such as fatty acids, which are vital for physiologic brain development.
A partnership was established between the United Kingdom's Ulster University, New York's University of Rochester Medical Center, and the Seychelles' Ministry of Education and Health. All three came up with the Seychelles Child Development Study- one of the largest population and longest studies ever conducted.
Both mothers and their children of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean participated in the success of the study. The location was selected because almost 90, 000 residents of the Islands consume 10 times more fish than people in Europe and the US eat. Child development was assessed with the use of varied motor, behavior, and communication skill tests.
The study has revealed that prenatal exposure to mercury was not directly linked with low test scores. Since the children were monitored until adulthood, it was further established that no association, whatsoever, was found between the fish consumption of pregnant women and impaired brain development of their offspring.