Harvard Researcher Publishes Infant Development Study

September 10, 2008 Washington, DC A study just released in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds moms who eat more fish, as well as moms who breastfeed the longest, have babies with better physical and mental development.

This is a huge study that looked at how eating fish during pregnancy affected over 25,000 infants said Jennifer Wilmes, registered dietitian with the National Fisheries Institute (NFI). Researchers found moms who ate fish at least three times a week had babies who did a better job of achieving milestones from crawling to putting words together.

A release from Harvard University Medical School says, These findings provide further evidence that omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and compounds in breast milk are beneficial to infant development.

This research is the latest in a series of studies that show just how important the nutrients in fish are to child development, said Wilmes. The challenge now is getting this up-to-date information in to the hands of doctors, dietitians and women at large in order to combat the misinformation about seafood we see so often.

Regarding traces of mercury in fish, according to Harvard the study concluded, consumption of three or more weekly servings of fish was associated with higher development scores, so in this case the nutrient benefits of prenatal fish appeared to outweigh toxicant harm.

The work was funded in part with a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

For more than 60 years, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and its members have provided American families with the variety of sustainable seafood essential to a healthy diet. For more information visit: www.AboutSeafood.com.

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Contact Information

Gavin Gibbons
(703)752-8891
ggibbons@NFI.org