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Why Should Pregnant Women Consume Fish? Being a high quality lean protein, fish supports good health, especially for the heart and brain, and they have other benefits include improvement in IQ levels in children. Most fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids that could reduce inflammation in the body that could actually damage the blood vessels and lead to heart disease. Fish also contain Vitamin-D and selenium. It has been known that omega-3 fatty acids might reduce triglycerides, lower blood pressure, reduce blood clotting, decrease stroke and heart failure risk, reduce irregular heartbeats, and may improve learning ability in children. Eating at least 1 to 2 servings a week of fish that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids appears to lower the risk of heart disease, particularly sudden cardiac death. There are concerns, nevertheless, on getting from fish too much mercury or other contaminants like dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). While mercury occurs naturally in small amounts in the environment, the industrial pollution also produce mercury that accumulates in lakes, rivers and oceans, and ends up in the food that fish eat. Mercury levels build up in the fish when they eat the contaminated food. For most people, mercury in seafood might not pose any health risk. But according to FDA, pregnant or breastfeeding women, those who might become pregnant and young children should avoid fish with high mercury levels because of concern that it could harm a developing brain. Fish absorb mercury, a neurotoxin, from streams and oceans, and large fish that eat other fish accumulate the highest levels.
That is why FDA (Food and Drug Administration) set a maximum on recommended fish consumption of 12 ounces per week in 2004. But on June 10, 2014, FDA issued an updated report with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) urging pregnant women to eat more fish that is low in mercury to gain important health benefits, based on a review of latest science. Recent surveys suggested that 21 percent of pregnant women did not eat fish in the previous month. Of those who ate, 50 percent had less than 2 ounces and 75 percent had less than 4 ounces. These women, therefore, do not receive health and developmental benefits that fish could provide. FDA, therefore, suggested that consuming at least 8 and not more than 12 ounces per week could maximize the benefits of health and development of a fetus and children while minimizing any potential risk of exposure to significant amounts of methyl mercury. But in order to minimize the potential risk of getting too much mercury, pregnant and breastfeeding women and children should avoid 4 types of fish, namely tilefish from the Gulf of Mexico, shark, swordfish and king mackerel, and should not eat more than 6 ounces per week of Albacore tuna that might have higher mercury levels. Consumption of fish low in mercury, like salmon, shrimp, pollock, tilapia, light canned tuna, catfish and cod is highly recommended. Fortunately, most fish sold in the United States is fine as the off-limits fish accounts for less than 2 percent of all market shares. In fact, of the 10 most commonly eaten fish in the Untied States, 9 are toward the low end and 8 are at the very low end in terms of their methyl mercury content, according to FDA. Consumer Reports, however, took issue with the new guidelines. They stressed that fish can also be a good source of mercury and they are particularly concerned about canned tuna that is second only to shrimp as the most commonly eaten seafood in the United States. Hence, they encourage pregnant women to avoid all tuna. The National Fisheries Institute immediately expressed their doubts about the statements and urged Consumer Reports to do a thorough, balanced and science-based job that they obviously did not. In fact, numerous independent seafood studies from the FDA and the World Health Organization (WHO) clearly demonstrate the net benefit gained from eating seafood, like tuna.
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