The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommend that pregnant women should eat one or two weekly portions of oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel, pilchards and sardines, and Professor Jean Golding of the University of Bristol, and head of the study, said women should follow the FSA advice and eat a mixture of different types of fish.
But there are also cautions about the consumption of certain types of fish including shark, marlin and tuna, because these may have harmful levels of accumulated mercury, which is very toxic, especially to a developing foetus.
The study, which included more than 14,000 women and about 13,000 of their children, discovered as well that the offspring of mothers who didn’t eat much fish during pregnancy had lower IQs and more behavioural and social problems than those whose mothers ate plenty of seafood.
This result challenges the U.S. government's standard advice to women to limit the intake of seafood while pregnant.
