There's certainly stuff in fish that's good for developing brains.  But is there a class or culture aspect to the amount of fish in the diet?  (Guess I'll go read and find out.)  I may have eaten no fish, because I live in Arizona, grew up on Massachusetts, and just can't bring myself to eat seafood so far from the sea.  

actually test the kids?  And it was self-reported?  

Mmmm...fish and chips.

this is yet another study that contradicts another study that contradicts yet another study - all of which are basically based on suspect 'science' - I wonder if Bumblebee or some company funded this!?!? This kind of science and scientific 'reporting' makes me crazy! I had this same rant on a different diary subject just the other day!

And, many, many super smart kids are born to vegetarian moms, moms who are allergic to fish, moms who don't like fish, and the millions of moms in the past decade or so who gave up fish because of high mercury levels!

In the words of my almost 5 year old DD, "Whatever!"

I got so confused I just pretty much cut fish out.  This wasn't so difficult for me since I'm not a vegetarian, but I think it would be hard if you depend on fish for the bulk of your protein.

Then again, I gave birth at 28 weeks, but he is healthy, so who knows?

...or some other supplement do the trick?

so everything is different now, but I ate salmon about once a week and occasionally ate other seafood [generally shrimp]. I mainly ate the salmon because I thought it was healthy and really wanted it that often.

My kids are smart but I don't think it has much to do with the fish. I think it's because DH and I are fairly smart and we have always tried to make life a learning experience for them. But I think it's mostly genetic -- although, somehow DH and I both think they are way smarter than we are!

I am pretty careful about buying seafood and use a handy guide from the Montery Bay Aquarium Seafood WATCH program. They have regional guides that address safety and sustainability.

I would say wild salmon is good. Sushi is right out.

You can buy frozen wild salmon year round, and also frozen farmed tilapia, and it should be safe mercury-wise and be very healthy. (Trader Joe's has both, yum.) There is also the option of canned salmon, though that doesn't work for me.

What you're looking for is quality fatty acids, especially Omega-3s. Other sources, besides fish, are flaxseed (grind it and it's great in breads or pancakes), and the fancy omega-3 eggs, which also tend to have DHA. I definitely recommend those if you're pregnant or nursing. They're steep for eggs but eggs are very cheap.

Avocados are a good source of Omega-6 fatty acids and are very nutritious overall.

I have taken an omega-3 fish based supplement from Nordic Naturals from time to time. It is expensive but not at all fishy. I believe from the label that it would be mercury free, but if I were pregnant I would probably dig a little deeper to be sure.

If they didn't test the mother's IQ, which they didn't mention, I would ignore this study. And they based the finding of advanced developmental skills on the mother's observations? Isn't that a little problematic?

And - 48% increased chance of having a low verbal score. What did they consider low? Lower than what?

The reason I bring up the mother's IQ is because I looked into the connection between breastfeeding and IQ. There was a big splash in the media that kids who were breastfed had a 3 or 5 point increase in IQ compared to not breastfed (a meaningless difference in real life, but that is a whole other problem). A couple of years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics did a review of the literature, and found that the studies that found a difference did not test the mother's IQ. Two studies did test the mother's IQ, and in those studies, IQ of the kids was correlated to the mother's IQ, not breastfeeding. When the mother's IQ was factored in, the influence of breastfeeding or not disappeared.

If I were preggers, I would eat fish, if I could find it without mercury (which is without a doubt a negative), if I liked it, and forget the rest.

RachelD

Institutue for Agriculture and Trade Policy has lots of information about health and trade issues, including a Smart Fish Guide for Moms and a How Much Mercury is in That Calculator. .

Bonus issues: arsenic in chicken, buying safer plastics, safer produce, and more. (You'll want to hole up on an organic farm if you spend too much time on this site.)

Did they test the educational attainment or socioeconomic class of the moms -- or did they control for those variables?  I'd be interested to see if more educated women were more or less likely to eat fish.  If they didn't control for that, it could throw off the study.

I recommend these....they purify algae to get the omegas, which is where fish get them from anyway.

http://www.expectalipil.com/

...to get what fish has in it.

omega 3, etc. i am vegetarian and did not eat any fish. it does not appear that my son has any hindered intelligence.

Through both pregnancies and both my kids are dumb as bricks.

HAHAHAHAHA

That is something you'll never hear anyone say, even  though in my case the first half is very true and the second half has been unproven yet.  ;)

I'm still nursing and I am careful about the kinds of fish I buy/eat/feed my family. It is scary and confusing, but I love seafood too much to completely cut it out. I ate fish when I was pregnant and tried to stick to the list of safe/safer kinds of fish.

A little note about wild salmon -- it need not be expensive. You can get it canned, which is pretty cheap.
All salmon from Alaska is wild salmon (tooting my own state's horn here) because salmon farms are illegal in Alaska. Beware of anyone who purports to sell "farmed wild salmon," as some New York restaurants and fish-sellers did in the past. Farmed and wild are mutually exclusive.
It's worth buying Alaska salmon for another reason -- despite our crazy politicians, Alaska, unlike most states, has had very good overall salmon management over the years. Supporting the Alaska salmon industry means supporting an environmentally responsible industry, on the whole.
Also good are Pacific cod, halibut (under 50 pounds) and, in general, other wild Alaska species of commercially caught seafood.