A new study has found that mothers who eat more fish (high in omega-3 fats) during pregnancy have smarter, better-behaved children. Many expected the opposite: They assumed more fish = more mercury = more damage. Here is a newspaper story about it.
The study, which appeared in The Lancet, has an odd title: “Maternal seafood consumption during pregnancy . . . ” — as if paternal seafood consumption during pregnancy could affect the fetus. It involved about 10,000 pregnant women. The seafood/better-brain correlation was seen with several measures, including IQ scores at age 8. The authors tested the explanation that low seafood consumption was simply a marker for an unhealthy diet by taking dietary quality into account in various ways; this had little effect on the results, the authors say.
Current Food and Drug Administration advice to limit seafood consumption during pregnancy may be harmful, the authors note.
Thanks to Timothy Beneke for the pointer.
I really hope they controlled for parental IQ. Just controlling for SES isn’t enough. Do you know if they did?
That’s a good point, although I’m pretty sure it would have been impossible — too much work. They did control for “maternal highest educational attainment.” In one analysis they controlled for paternal seafood consumption and the maternal effect was still present.