According

study,
Excessive
Fish
eating during Pregnancy leads Child
Obesity Columbia Daily Science

her exercise habits. A mothers weight gain

during pregnancy can affect the childs
weight, and the researchers say that they
used the mothers gestational weight gain as a
proxy for her diet and energy use.

A new study of JAMA Pediatrics, researchers

says that children are likely to go obese at 4 to
6 years, whose mothers, ate fish more than
three times a week during pregnancy, children
grew faster in their first two years of life and
they were pregnant tended to have children
with higher BMIs, than were babies born to
mothers who ate little to no fish during
pregnancy.

But if a mothers diet included fatty foods, that

could have a stronger effect on her childs
weight than her fish consumption. Finally, the
scientists also did not have information on the
childrens diet and exercise habits; because
they were followed until they were six years
old, their own eating patterns and physical
activity could have more influence on their
weight than any foods they were exposed to in
utero.

Eating excess fish during pregnancy exposes

baby to obesity
In a large study conducted across several
countries, researchers found that the weightrelated effects of a mothers high fish
consumption were more pronounced when the
offspring was female.
Researchers suggested two explanations for
their finding: that the Omega-3 fatty acids
found plentifully in fish might predispose fetal
stem cells to differentiate into fat cells, or that
pollutants found in fish disrupt fetal hormones
related to metabolism and prompt greater fat
storage. But they acknowledged that the
possibility that contaminants are to blame for
the effect is speculative, since the studys
authors had no measure of the persistent
organic pollutants in the fish the women ate.
In July 2014, the Food and Drug Administration
and the Environmental Protection Agency
recommended that pregnant women eat two
to three servings (8-12 ounces) of fish per
week. The agencies advisory recommended
that pregnant women steer clear of fish known
to be contaminated with mercury (tilefish from
the Gulf of Mexico, shark, swordfish, and king
mackerel, for example) and choose instead
salmon, shrimp, pollock, light canned tuna,
tipalia, catfish, and cod.
Finally, they acknowledge that they did not
have data on the mothers total diet during
pregnancy, nor did they have information on

Researchers said more work needs to be done,

and that for now it would be speculative to
hypothesize that fish-associated contaminant
exposure may play a role in the observed
associations.
Most nutrition experts recommend that people
eat more fish because of they contain high
levels of healthy fats like omega-3s. Studies
have shown that while there is a small risk of
harm to developing fetuses from mercury in
some fish, the benefits outweigh these risks.
And these results, while worthy of more study,
shouldnt change that advice.
The study tracked 26,184 pregnant women
and their children, born between 1996 and
2011 in the United States and across Europe.
They observed the growth patterns and weight
status of the children up to the age of 6 years
old. The pregnant women, who answered
questionnaires about their food intake,
reported they ate anywhere from less than
half a serving of fish weekly (in the
Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland) to as many
as seven servings of fish per week (in Spain
and Portugal).
The US Food and Drug Administration and the
Environmental
Protection
Agency
both
recommend that pregnant women eat three
servings of fish per week.

Women who ate fish more than three times

per week when they were pregnant gave birth
to children with higher BMI values at two, four
and six years of age compared with women
who ate fish less, said the study.

Women who eat at least 12 ounces of oily fish

per week have been shown to give birth to
children who have better childhood IQ scores,
fine motor coordination, and communication
and social skills, along with other benefits.

Child Obesity links to high fish intake in

pregnancy

But, as a 2014 article on the subject noted,

the U.S. governments new advice on fish
consumption is complicated. The new
research findings are likely to make it even
more so, underscoring the importance of not
eating too little or too much.

High maternal fish intake during pregnancy

also was associated with an increased risk of
rapid growth from birth to two years and with
an increased risk of overweight/obesity for
children at ages four and six years compared
with maternal fish intake while pregnant of
once a week or less.
At 4 and 6 years old, children born to women
who had had the highest level of fish
consumption during pregnancy were 14% and
22% more likely to be overweight or obese
than were babies born to women who ate the
least fish. In their first two years of life, the
babies of heavy fish eaters were 22% more
likely to have had a rapid increase in growth
than were the babies of women who ate little
fish in pregnancy.
Largely scared by reports of mercury
poisoning, U.S. women have been eating little
fish during pregnancy, and public health
campaigns have urged them to consumer
more. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are plentiful
in many kinds of fatty fish, are critical building
blocks for the development of the fetal brain
and retinal tissues. These essential fatty acids
may also help determine the length of fetal
gestation and ward off a mothers depression
during pregnancy or after giving birth.

The authors of the current study a team of

researchers hailing from the 11 countries
where women and their babies were
participants say the next step might be to
try to better understand why a pregnant
womans fish consumption, as well as other
dietary patterns, appears to have different
effects on a female baby than it does to a
male child. They suggested that researchers
should delve more closely into the placental
tissue to glean how intra-uterine factors such
as diet could have sex-specific effects.
The effect of excessive of fish intake was
greater in girls than boys. The study did not
delve into what kinds of fish the women ate,
nor did it study levels of contaminants like
methyl
mercury.
The takeaway message, said study authors,
was that pregnant women should follow
recommended guidelines for fish intake and
not exceed three servings per week.