|
20th January 2006 Oily fish in pregnancy makes babies brainier Mothers who eat oily fish and seeds while pregnant could be helping to boost their child's brain power and social skills as they grow. A team from the National Institutes of Health in the US analysed data from a long-term study of 9,000 mothers and children in Avon. They found that those who consumed less of the essential fatty acid Omega-3 found in oily fish and seeds had children with lower IQs and poorer motor skills and hand-to-eye co-ordination. The study found mothers with the lowest intake of the essential fatty acid had children with a verbal IQ six points lower than the average and also appeared to have problems with social interactions - such as an inability to make friends. Research leader Dr Joseph Hibbeln said "frightening data" showed 14 per cent of 17-year-olds whose mother had eaten small quantities of Omega -3 during pregnancy demonstrated this sort of behaviour compared with 8 per cent of those born to the group with the highest intake. "The findings of poor social development and poor motor control in children indicate that these children may be on a developmental trajectory towards lifelong disruptive and poorly-socialised behaviour as they grow up," he said. Professor Jean Golding of Bristol University set up the original research 15 years ago to look at the predisposition to disease. "The baby's brain needs Omega-3 fatty acids," she said. "It doesn't create its own fatty acids so it needs to be something that the mother will eat." Nutritional expert Patrick Holford, director of the Brain Bio Centre, said Omega-3 was key to children's intelligence because the brain is formed of 60 per cent fat, 30 per cent of which is essential fats. "It's absolutely essential that pregnant women take in enough Omega-3 and that children in early infancy take in enough Omega-3." The richest sources of Omega-3 are larger fish which eat other fish, but research shows that the larger the fish the more pollutants, such as mercury, they contain. Because of this, Food Standards Agency says pregnant women should consume only one or two portions of oily fish a week and Mr Holford recommends women consume two portions of wild or organic salmon, trout or sardines weekly. Other good sources of Omega-3 include seeds such as flax, pumpkin and hemp but large quantities need to be consumed to gain the same effect.
Where to next?
|
News
|
|
