Fish For Dinner Research Articles

Impaired gross motor development in infants with higher PFAS concentrations

Industrial produced perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are environmentally persistent and found in humans around the globe. PFAS is transferred from mother to child during pregnancy and lactation and PFAS concentrations are high in infants. PFAS exposure in early life has been linked to a range of negative health effects.In the present study we have investigated PFAS concentrations in mothers (pregnancy week 18, 28 and 36 and six weeks, four and six months postpartum, n = 114) and in infants at six months age (n = 94), and studied the effects of PFAS status on infant gross motor development by Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) at age six months.PFAS concentrations declined in the mothers during pregnancy and postpartum period, and the highest concentrations were seen in infants aged six months. Parity was a strong negative predictor and fish intake a strong positive predictor of maternal PFAS status, while maternal concentrations of PFAS in pregnancy week 18 and months of exclusive breastfeeding determined the PFAS concentrations in infants at six months.Infants who scored below the median on gross motor development had higher PFAS concentrations than infants with a better gross motor development. Ninety percent of the women reported having fish for dinner at least once a week, with fatty fish as the most popular choice (72%). A higher maternal fish intake in pregnancy week 18 was associated with a poorer gross motor development in the infants at six months.Infant gross motor development is a marker of later cognitive outcome and our findings indicate that higher PFAS concentrations in young infants and maternal fatty fish intake may impair neurodevelopment.

Predictors of mercury, lead, cadmium and antimony status in Norwegian never-pregnant women of fertile age.

BackgroundThe toxic trace elements mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and antimony (Sb) are transferred over the placenta to the fetus and secreted into the breastmilk. All four elements bioaccumulate in the body and as maternal age at delivery is increasing in industrialized countries, the burden of toxic trace elements in never-pregnant women of fertile age is of concern.MethodsHealthy, never-pregnant women aged 18 to 40 years (n = 158) were recruited between June 2012 and March 2015 in Bergen, Norway. Clinical data were collected and non-fasting venous blood samples were analyzed for whole blood Hg, Pb and Cd and serum Sb by ICP-MS and related to diet and life style factors.ResultsIn a multiple linear regression model, increasing age was associated with higher levels of Hg and Sb, but diet and life style factors were more important predictors. Median whole blood Hg was increased by a factor of 70 in women who had fish for dinner ≥1/week, compared to women who rarely or never ate fish (p<0.001). Alcohol intake was the strongest predictor for whole blood Pb, while use of tobacco was the strongest predictor for whole blood Cd. Being a vegetarian was associated with lower levels of both Hg and Sb.ConclusionsAs toxic trace elements tend to bioaccumulate in the body, increasing maternal age at delivery may represent a threat to the next generation. In a group of healthy Norwegian never-pregnant women, age contributed to Hg and Sb levels, but diet and life style factors were stronger determinants of whole blood Hg, Pb, Cd and serum Sb levels. Continuous public actions are needed to reduce modifiable and preventable sources of potentially deleterious toxins to minimize the exposure in children and fertile women.

The scientists who sniff water

Mel Suffet stood at a whiteboard, dry-erase marker in hand, and asked me sarcastically, “Did you have fish for dinner?” He wasn’t commenting on my breath. For the past hour, I’d been sitting in a mini-cubicle, taking part in a six-person odor-sniffing panel in his lab at the University of California, Los Angeles. I’d just told him that a water sample I’d sniffed had a musty and fishy odor. “I’m not going to put it down because it’s wrong,” he said. “We don’t have a fishy odor.” He paused from recording the other panelists’ descriptions, went to a fume hood, and pulled out the Erlenmeyer flask containing the sample in question. He told me to smell it again. After a few sniffs, I realized he was right: It was musty and pine scented. Clearly, smelling water is challenging. The exercise was an example of how water scientists analyze funky-smelling water.

Fish for Dinner? Balancing Risks, Benefits, and Values in Formulating Food Consumption Advice.

Many and complex factors underlie seemingly simple decisions about what to eat. This is particularly so for foods such as fish, which present consumers with both risks and benefits. Advice about what type of and how much fish to consume is abundant, but that advice is often confusing or contradictory, reflecting the differing mandates and orientations of those advising. We survey a range of issues that can and should be incorporated into dietary advice, and offer tools for health agencies tasked with providing it. We argue that risks and benefits should not be limited to direct physical health. Rather, socioeconomic and community factors, unintended or indirect effects, and nonhuman-health outcomes such as animal welfare and planetary health should also be considered and weighed. We provide examples of existing fish consumption guidance to highlight the conflicting messages that emerge when different sources of advice with singular aims of avoiding risk, gaining nutritional benefit, or sustaining fish populations are juxtaposed. We then offer tools borrowed from health and other fields to guide health agencies toward developing more comprehensive advice and targeting that advice for specific populations.

Children and young adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) have healthier food choices particularly with respect to dietary fat sources compared with non-FH children.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) leads to elevated plasma levels of LDL-cholesterol and increased risk of premature atherosclerosis. Dietary treatment is recommended to all patients with FH in combination with lipid-lowering drug therapy. Little is known about how children with FH and their parents respond to dietary advice. The aim of the present study was to characterise the dietary habits in children with FH. A total of 112 children and young adults with FH and a non-FH group of children (n 36) were included. The children with FH had previously received dietary counselling. The FH subjects were grouped as: 12-14 years (FH (12-14)) and 18-28 years (FH (18-28)). Dietary data were collected by SmartDiet, a short self-instructing questionnaire on diet and lifestyle where the total score forms the basis for an overall assessment of the diet. Clinical and biochemical data were retrieved from medical records. The SmartDiet scores were significantly improved in the FH (12-14) subjects compared with the non-FH subjects (SmartDiet score of 31 v. 28, respectively). More FH (12-14) subjects compared with non-FH children consumed low-fat milk (64 v. 18 %, respectively), low-fat cheese (29 v. 3%, respectively), used margarine with highly unsaturated fat (74 v. 14 %, respectively). In all, 68 % of the FH (12-14) subjects and 55 % of the non-FH children had fish for dinner twice or more per week. The FH (18-28) subjects showed the same pattern in dietary choices as the FH (12-14) children. In contrast to the choices of low-fat dietary items, 50 % of the FH (12-14) subjects consumed sweet spreads or sweet drinks twice or more per week compared with only 21 % in the non-FH group. In conclusion, ordinary out-patient dietary counselling of children with FH seems to have a long-lasting effect, as the diet of children and young adults with FH consisted of more products that are favourable with regard to the fatty acid composition of the diet.

Serial electrophysiological changes in uraemic patients with tetrodotoxin intoxication

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a well-known biological neurotoxin, predominantly isolated from the viscera of puffer fish. TTX binds to the voltage-gated sodium channels and reduces the membrane excitability of vital tissues (Narahashi et al., 1967). As a result, paraesthesia, paralysis, respiratory failure and, eventually, coma with absence of electrical brain activities can appear depending on the amounts of ingested toxin. There are only a few reports about the electrophysiological studies of peripheral nerves in TTX intoxication because of the rarity of this intoxication and rapid alteration of clinical and electrophysiological status. We conducted serial nerve-conduction studies (NCSs) in two uraemic patients with acute TTX intoxication during the recovery period and obtained the strength–duration curves with nerve-excitability test at each visit. A brief case summary is as follows: Patient #1 was a 38-year-old man, who received peritoneal dialysis with end-stage renal disease for 1 year. He was referred to our hospital due to rapidly progressive quadriparesis. Three days before admission, he ate cooked puffer fish for dinner. On the next morning, he felt dizziness and peri-oral tingling sensation. On neurologic examination, he showed symmetric muscle weakness of Medical Research Council grade 2. Although he complained of mild dyspnoea, he did not need mechanical ventilation. On the 5th day of intoxication, an NCS on the median nerve revealed slow conduction velocity (30 m s ) but normal compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude (8 mV). Serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Cr) were 99 and 14.9 mg dl , respectively. Serum potassium level was normal (3.9 mEq l ). His neurologic deficits slowly improved and disappeared at 14 days after ingestion. In the follow-up NCS performed on the 17th day, CMAP was increased in amplitude (11 mV) and conduction velocity demonstrated improvement (51 m s ) over the previous value. A nerve-excitability test was performed. Recording electrodes were attached in the abductor pollicis brevis muscle and the median nerve at the wrist was stimulated. We set the initial stimulation duration to 0.05 ms of square wave, and stimulation intensities were serially increased with 1-mA intervals until visible muscle twitching was observed. We conducted the same procedure with each increment of 0.1 ms up to 1 ms to measure each threshold.

Impact of maternal seafood diet on fetal exposure to mercury, selenium, and lead.

Umbilical cord blood from 1,023 consecutive births in the Faroe Islands showed a median blood-mercury concentration of 121 nmol/l (24.2 micrograms/l); 250 of those samples (25.1%) had blood-mercury concentrations that exceeded 200 nmol/l (40 micrograms/l). Maternal hair mercury concentrations showed a median of 22.5 nmol/g (4.5 micrograms/g), and 130 samples (12.7%) contained concentrations that exceeded 50 nmol/g (10 micrograms/g). Frequent ingestion of whale meat dinners during pregnancy and, to a much lesser degree, frequent consumption of fish, and increased parity or age were associated with high mercury concentrations in cord blood and hair. Blood-mercury levels were slightly lower if the mother had occasionally ingested alcoholic beverages. Mercury in blood correlated moderately with blood selenium (median, 1.40 mumol/l). Increased selenium concentrations were associated with intake of whale meat, alcohol abstention, delivery after term, and high parity. Lead in cord blood was low (median, 82 nmol/l), particularly if the mothers had frequently had fish for dinner and had abstained from smoking.