Pregnant women who took three servings of fish per week, more than the recommended amount by US health regulators, gave birth to babies at a higher risk of obesity than the mothers who took less, a study suggested on Feb 15, 2016. NDTV and Fox News reported this.
The research in the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA) Pediatrics informed that there is an association between taking too much fish in pregnancy and rapid obesity risk in children. But researchers warned that they could not prove any cause and effect.
It is a regular concern of pregnant women that how much fish to consume. Fish is good for the development of fetus but fish contains pollutants such as mercury that is very harmful. Researchers need more studies in this regard.
Leda Chatzi, a doctor at the University of Crete, who led the research analyzed data collected from over 26,000 pregnant women and their children in the US and Europe. The research based on the reports of women about how much fish they ate weekly when they were pregnant and followed their children up to the age of six.
The amount of fish women consumed varied from 0.5 times weekly in Belgium to 4.45 times weekly in Spain. According to the study, the highest fish intake was consuming fish more than three times per week.
The study showed, women who consumed fish more than three times per week while pregnant, gave birth to babies with higher BMI values. Researchers have also found that high fish intake by women during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of rapid growth of birth to two years and overweight for children at four and six years of age.
Generally, women should eat different kinds of fish every week and avoid predatory fish such as swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish and shark because some of the mentioned varieties may contain more pollutants.
No comments:
Post a Comment