Eating fish during pregnancy can benefit children’s metabolic health

Although the report stresses on how eating fish is linked with higher blood levels of mercury, eating it moderately has more benefits than the apparent risks.




During pregnancy, women generally follow a prescribed diet, which is related to the well-being of the mother and child. A list of do(s) and don’t(s) are drawn up and diligently followed. According to a report in The New York Times, expecting mothers eating fish can positively affect children’s metabolism. The same report states that eating fish in moderate quantities can help kids have better metabolic health.

In the study, published in JAMA Network Open, 805 women were examined on the basis of their fish consumption rate and blood mercury level. The scientists then proceeded to examine the children’s metabolic rate for almost eight years.

Subsequently, a score was assigned to children on the basis of five factors of the metabolic syndrome which in turn gauge the risk for cardiovascular diseases: high blood pressure, high waist circumference, and abnormal levels of triglycerides, cholesterol and insulin. It was found that those mothers who consumed less than one serving of fish every week had poor metabolic syndrome scores than compared to those who ate what and the way it was recommended.

Although the report stresses on how eating fish is linked with higher blood levels of mercury, eating it moderately has more benefits than the apparent risks.

“Fish in general contains important nutrients for the developing foetus. Women should not be afraid of eating one to three servings a week,” Nikos Stratakis, lead author and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern California was quoted as saying.

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