Health28 Jul 2010 01:41 pm
Tilefish, which has a particularly high average mercury content
“Pregnant women who eat a lot of seafood have smarter babies than moms who don’t.” That short sentence contradicts a good deal of received wisdom. For decades, concerns about mercury levels in fish have convinced millions of women to avoid seafood while they’re pregnant. But a study published in the “Lancet” (a British medical journal) in 2007 suggests otherwise.
The results of the study were shocking: of 14,541 babies born near Bristol, England, those whose mothers ate “more than 340 grams of seafood a week” had kids with significantly higher I.Q.’s. (The test was performed on women who were pregnant in the early nineties, and the childrens’ I.Q.’s were tested over a decade later.) This contradicted the results of an earlier test: in the early 1980′s, a Danish scientist suggested that mercury levels might affect their babies’ attention spans.
What other food warnings would you like to see reconsidered? Does MSG really cause headaches? Do people who are lactose intolerant really need to avoid cheese?? Are “carbs” really worse for your figure than fats??? We eagerly await the next round of studies!
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