Time for the Clinical Question of the Week! Enjoy!
Allison Laverty Montag
The Milk Mob
Wisconsin, USA
The 2014 FDA Assessment of Commercial Fish: Practical Considerations for
Improved Dietary Guidance
August 8, 2016
Here’s something fishy… It is safe to eat fish during pregnancy. Whaaat?
Surely you’ve heard that fish is the miracle food? Fish is high in protein,
and its heart-healthy fats, along with other nutrients, promote healthy
brain development in fetuses and young children. But should pregnant and/or
nursing women, and young children eat fish? Many families avoid fish
consumption during pregnancy, lactation, and in meals for young children
because of the risk of mercury exposure.
There is now strong evidence that despite small nontoxic amounts of mercury
exposure, moderate fish consumption during pregnancy can raise a child’s
early verbal development and IQ.
In 2014, The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a
report entitled *A Quantitative Assessment of the Net Effects on Fetal
Neurodevelopment by Eating Commercial Fish (As Measured by IQ and also by
Early Age Verbal Development in Children)’. *Read here.
<http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/Metals/UM396785.pdf>
The FDA reports that if pregnant women eat between 8 oz and 12 oz of fish
each week (most fish species eaten in the United States) their child may
gain 3.3 IQ points by age 9, without significant mercury exposure. Eating
12 oz of fish each week will give the maximum benefit for early verbal
development and IQ. This means that eating more than 12 oz a week during
pregnancy does not necessarily raise the IQ beyond the approximate 3.3
points, and may lead to more mercury exposure.
In fact, they report that eating less than 3 oz of fish a week during
pregnancy is harmful to the fetus’s brain due to lack of exposure to the
nutritional benefits of fish, even though the mother is avoiding mercury
exposure.
The authors of The 2014 FDA assessment of commercial fish: practical
considerations for improved dietary guidance used the FDA’s report to
outline the most cost-effective ways to follow the FDA’s fish consumption
guidelines.
Based on their calculations, canned light tuna is the least expensive and
safest way to consume the recommended 8-12 oz of fish each week.
How many meals per week of canned light tuna does a pregnant woman need to
eat in order to expose her fetus to excessive mercury?
1. 18 meal/week
2. 35 meals/week
3. 50 meals/week
4. 90 meals/week
The 2014 FDA Assessment of Commercial Fish: Practical Considerations for
Improved Dietary Guidance
August 8, 2016
Here’s something fishy… It is safe to eat fish during pregnancy. Whaaat?
Surely you’ve heard that fish is the miracle food? Fish is high in protein,
and its heart-healthy fats, along with other nutrients, promote healthy
brain development in fetuses and young children. But should pregnant and/or
nursing women, and young children eat fish? Many families avoid fish
consumption during pregnancy, lactation, and in meals for young children
because of the risk of mercury exposure.
There is now strong evidence that despite small nontoxic amounts of mercury
exposure, moderate fish consumption during pregnancy can raise a child’s
early verbal development and IQ.
In 2014, The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a
report entitled *A Quantitative Assessment of the Net Effects on Fetal
Neurodevelopment by Eating Commercial Fish (As Measured by IQ and also by
Early Age Verbal Development in Children)’. *Read here.
<http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/Metals/UM396785.pdf>
The FDA reports that if pregnant women eat between 8 oz and 12 oz of fish
each week (most fish species eaten in the United States) their child may
gain 3.3 IQ points by age 9, without significant mercury exposure. Eating
12 oz of fish each week will give the maximum benefit for early verbal
development and IQ. This means that eating more than 12 oz a week during
pregnancy does not necessarily raise the IQ beyond the approximate 3.3
points, and may lead to more mercury exposure.
In fact, they report that eating less than 3 oz of fish a week during
pregnancy is harmful to the fetus’s brain due to lack of exposure to the
nutritional benefits of fish, even though the mother is avoiding mercury
exposure.
The authors of The 2014 FDA assessment of commercial fish: practical
considerations for improved dietary guidance used the FDA’s report to
outline the most cost-effective ways to follow the FDA’s fish consumption
guidelines.
Based on their calculations, canned light tuna is the least expensive and
safest way to consume the recommended 8-12 oz of fish each week.
How many meals per week of canned light tuna does a pregnant woman need to
eat in order to expose her fetus to excessive mercury?
1. 18 meal/week
2. 35 meals/week
3. 50 meals/week
4. 90 meals/week
Check out the answer here.
<https://themilkmob.org/questions/fish-consumption-during-pregnancy-raises-verbal-development-iq/>
--
"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we often might win, by
fearing to attempt."
William Shakespeare
Measure for Measure
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|
