Q: I am pregnant, and my doctor tells me not to eat fish, but I’ve read that omega-3 fat in fish aids baby development. What should I do?
A: Your infant is apt to smarter if you eat fish during pregnancy, says a new study by Emily Oken, M.D., Harvard Medical School. She found that 6-month-old babies whose mothers ate two or more servings of fish a week in the second trimester scored highest on visual memory tests, a sign of I.Q. But heed this warning: mothers must eat only fish low in mercury. Babies of fish-eaters with high levels of mercury scored much lower on tests.
Safe Choices: Oken advises pregnant women to continue eating fish, but to choose fish low in mercury content: salmon, canned light tuna, sardines and white fish. Shellfish are OK, but low in omega-3 fats. Avoid shark, swordfish, fresh tuna and canned albacore tuna because they are all higher in mercury.
Are capsules OK? Oken says she isn’t sure fish oil capsules would work as well as eating fish. But they are safer, says Kent Lewandrowski, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and a pathology professor at Harvard Medical School. In tests, he and his associates found only negligible amounts of mercury and other toxins in commercial fish oil capsules. And he prefers to take fish oil capsules to lower his risk of cardiovascular disease; mercury in fish can negate the benefits of omega-3 fat. He also advises his own teenagers to take fish oil. But he says everyone, especially pregnant women, should check with a doctor before taking fish oil.
Copyright 2004 Jean Carper. Printed first in USA Weekend. All rights reserved.
For more information from Jean Carper, go to www.jeancarper.com
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