Consuming fish during pregnancy can keep autism at bay, study
Posted on: 09/Feb/2016 3:57:55 PM
According to a new study by Spanish researchers, children whose mothers had at least three or four servings of fish during their pregnancy period were found with higher IQ scores as compared to those who ate less amount of fish. The research further added that consumption of fish during pregnancy will bring down the possibilities of the offspring to develop autism.
Large fatty fish consumption during pregnancy provides neuropsychological benefits to the child. It helps improve cognitive functions and keeps them protected from autism-spectrum traits, the study adds.
In most cases, fishes like tauna or tilefish are turned down by pregnant women as they contain high levels of mercury. These however are helpsul for large developmental benefits. According to findings, these contain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) which will overweigh the negative impacts of mercury.
Fishes like tauna that have high mercury levels also have high levels of DHA which is an omega-3 fatty acid that assumes a pivotal role in brain development, points Jordi Julvez, leading author of the study from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona, Spain. He further adds in his quote that this effect of such fishes perhaps are masking the negative effects of mercury contained in them. Or there is more beneficial effects of DHA as compared to negative effects of mercury.
The study involved assessing over 2000 mothers and their children starting from the first tirmester of pregnancy and it continued on until the children grew up to 5 years of age. Resuls of the study were issud online in The American Journal of Epidemiology.
