Abstract
The upside of pregnant women eating fish is that it contains many potentially beneficial nutrients, among them iron and long-chain omega fatty acids. The downside is that it also may contain neurotoxic agents such as methylmercury. The United Kingdom, where fish consumption is high, seemed to offer a good opportunity to identify any associations between fish intake by pregnant women and the early development of language and communication skills. The cohort included 7421 British children born in the years 1991–1992. Mercury was measured in umbilical cord tissue in roughly 15% of the children. Cognitive development was assessed using adaptations of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI) at age 15 months and the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DTST) at age 18 months. All but 12% of mothers ate fish while pregnant, 80% of them a least once a week. Approximately two thirds ate both white and oily types of fish. Developmental assessment scores consistently increased with greater maternal fish intake during pregnancy. The greatest effect was a 7% higher MCDI comprehension score when mothers ate fish at least once a week, compared with those eating no fish. For MCDI social activity scores, the major difference was between no fish and any fish. Total DDST scores were 2% higher in children whose mothers ate fish 1 to 3 times a week compared with those eating no fish. The chance of making high or low scores, especially on the MCDI, also was associated with maternal fish intake. The child’s fish intake did not influence these findings, but it was independently associated with higher neurodevelopmental scores. Fish intake during pregnancy also was associated with increased levels of mercury in umbilical cord tissue. In general, however, mercury levels were low and did not correlate with developmental scores. Moderate intake of noncontaminated fish during pregnancy may enhance the child’s early development of language and communication skills.
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