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Scientific Studies
Eating Fish: Health Benefits and Risks
Journal of the American Medical Association Patient Page, 2006
This Web page for patients produced by the journal of the American Medical Association summarizes current advice on the risks and benefits of seafood.
Seafood Choices: Balancing Risks and Benefits
National Academies of Science, Institute of Medicine, October 17, 2006
A comprehensive review of current information on risks and benefits associated with seafood consumption. To see the academy’s fact sheets with consumer information on balancing seafood choices click here
Fish Intake, Contaminants, and Human Health: Evaluating the Risks and the Benefits
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2006; 296:1885-1899
Conclusions: For major health outcomes among adults, based on both the strength of the evidence and the potential magnitudes of effect, the benefits of fish intake exceed the potential risks. For women of childbearing age, benefits of modest fish intake, excepting a few selected species, also outweigh risks.
Maternal Fish Consumption, Hair Mercury, and Infant Cognition in a U.S. Cohort
Environmental Health Perspectives October 2005, Vol. 113, No.10.
Fish and other seafood may contain organic mercury but also beneficial nutrients such as n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. We endeavored to study whether maternal fish consumption during pregnancy harms or benefits fetal brain development. Higher fish consumption in pregnancy was associated with better infant cognition, but higher mercury levels were associated with lower cognition. Women should continue to eat fish during pregnancy but choose varieties with lower mercury contamination. To see the full journal article click here
A Quantitative Risk–Benefit Analysis of Changes in Population Fish Consumption
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Vol. 29, No. 4, November 2005.
An expert panel of scientists to analyze government advice to U.S. consumers regarding fish intake.
Fish Intake During Pregnancy and Early Cognitive Development of Offspring
Epidemiology. 15(4):394-402, July 2004
The ALSPAC Study Team-University of Bristol Institute of Child Health (UK)
Conclusions: When fish is not contaminated, moderate fish intake during pregnancy and infancy may benefit development.
No detectable risk from mercury in seafood, study shows
Press Release from University of Rochester Medical Center, May 15, 2003.
An exhaustive study of 643 children from before birth to 9 years of age shows no detectable risk from the low levels of mercury their mothers were exposed to from eating ocean seafood, according to a study in the May 17 issue of The Lancet. The full journal article was published in the May 17, 2003 issue of The Lancet, Vol. 361.
Prenatal methyl mercury exposure from ocean fish consumption in the Seychelles child development study
The Lancet, Vol. 36, May 17, 2003.
Exposure to methyl mercury (MeHg) before birth can adversely affect children’s neurodevelopment. The most common form of prenatal exposure is maternal fish consumption, but whether such exposure harms the fetus is unknown. We aimed to identify adverse neurodevelopmental effects in a fish-consuming population. We examined 779 mother-infant pairs residing in the Republic of Seychelles. These data do not support the hypothesis that there is a neurodevelopmental risk from prenatal MeHg exposure resulting solely from fish consumption.
Eating fish in pregnancy prevents pre-term birth
British Medical Journal, 324 (7335), February 23, 2002, page 447.
Low consumption of seafood during early pregnancy is a risk factor for pre-term delivery and low birth weight. Olsen and Secher found that low birth weight, pre-term birth, and intrauterine growth retardation decreased with increasing fish consumption. Mean birth weight, duration of gestation, and birth weight adjusted for gestational age increased with increasing fish consumption. This association was strongest below an estimated daily intake of 15 grams of fish.
Balancing Fish Consumption Benefits with Mercury Exposure, Policy Forum
Science, 12 December 1997:Vol. 278. No. 5345, pp. 1904 – 1905.
Article discussesthe uncertainties in risk, the potential health benefits of fish consumption, the competing risks associated with other available food sources, the potential medical impact of dietary and lifestyle changes on a population, and the social and economic ramifications of restrictive fish and seafood consumption advisories.
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