Yahoo Lifestyle The pregnancy superfood that will make your baby smarter
It’s long been touted as a brain-booster, but researchers have found that the benefits of a diet high in fish oils can even have a positive effect on your unborn baby.
According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women who ate more fish during pregnancy gave birth to infants who produced better results in tests of verbal intelligence, complex motor skills and socialisation behaviours.
Researchers studied the way that fish affects intelligence when genetic factors are excluded, as part of a wider study into the effects of diet on intellectual ability. Participants were given high doses of omega-3 and omega-6, fatty acids found in high concentrations in oily fish, and researchers then monitored the progress of their infants after delivery.
It’s believed that these fatty acids are absorbed by the developing foetus, where they then contribute to healthy brain development. Research into exactly how and why this happens is ongoing, and expected to be complete by the end of 2013.
But experts caution against pregnant women rushing out to stock up on fish, pointing out that not all fish are created equal. Deep sea fish such as shark (flake), barramundi and swordfish can contain high levels of mercury, which can build up in the body and be toxic to your baby. For this reason, the NSW Food
Authority recommend eating no more than one serve of these types of fish.
Types of fish high in the omega fatty acids that don’t pose a mercury risk include salmon (canned and fresh), mackerel, sardines and tuna.
Don’t like fish? Other foods which are high in omega fatty acids include walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and flax seed oil, broccoli and spinach.
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