Seafood good for pregnant women, study says

WASHINGTON — A large study has found that children of women who ate little fish during pregnancy had lower IQs and more behavioral and social problems than youngsters whose mothers ate plenty of seafood, a finding that challenges the U.S. government's standard advice to limit seafood while pregnant.

The study finds "no evidence to lend support to the warning of the U.S. advisory that pregnant women should limit their seafood consumption," concluded the team led by Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a U.S. National Institutes of Health researcher who led the study published in the British medical journal The Lancet.

The study found that children born to women who ate three servings of fish per week or less — near the maximum advised by the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency — had lower verbal IQs, more problems with fine motor skills and higher rates of behavioral and social difficulties, compared with youngsters whose mothers consumed more seafood during pregnancy.

The advice to limit seafood consumption is based on concerns that children might absorb too much mercury, which builds up in fish and can cause neurological problems.

"Higher maternal fish consumption results in children showing better neurological function than children whose mothers ate low amounts of or no fish during pregnancy," said Dr. Gary Myers, professor of neurology and pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in an editorial accompanying the study. "These results highlight the importance of including fish in the maternal diet during pregnancy ... "

The FDA and the EPA say women of childbearing age, as well as those who are pregnant or nursing, and young children should avoid consuming any shark, swordfish, tilefish or king mackerel — fish known to have particularly high mercury levels. They also advise women in these groups that they can "safely eat 12 ounces per week" of other types of fish, but not more.

The British study included more than 14,000 women and about 13,000 of their children who survived to 12 months of age.

Participants filled out food questionnaires four times during pregnancy and answered specific questions about their seafood consumption during the third trimester. Later, they provided information at regular intervals about the diet, education, social circumstances, behavioral and developmental outcomes of their children. The children also underwent intelligence testing at age 8.

To the researchers' surprise, children of women consuming the most fish showed significantly higher verbal IQs at age 8 and fewer behavioral problems than youngsters whose mothers consumed only the amount of seafood currently recommended in the United States or less.

The EPA said Thursday that until the results can be reviewed and replicated, its advice would remain the same.