Eating fish during pregnancy could bolster the infant’s intelligence, according to early findings from a major European study.
The latest study in the NUTRIMENTHE project, a 5.9 million Euro research programme funded by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme, found that children born to mothers who ate more fish during pregnancy score higher in verbal intelligence and fine motor skill tests.
They are also more likely to display increased levels of social behaviour, which suggests empathy and a desire to help others for no personal gain.
Professor Cristina Campoy Folgoso, of the University of Granada, Spain, who co-ordinated the study, analysed concentrations of long-chain fatty acids of the series omega-3 and omega-6 from blood samples from 2,000 women at 20 weeks’ pregnancy and from the umbilical cord of the infant at birth.
They examined the genotype of 18 polymorphisms in the fatty acid desaturase (FADS) gene cluster to try and assess the effects of maternal fish intake on foetal development, and to determine how the different genotypes affect long-chain fatty acid concentrations in the foetus.
Dr Pauline Emmett, from the University of Bristol, Dr Eva Lattka of Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Centre for Environmental Health, with their colleagues found that fatty acid concentrations in umbilical cord blood depend on maternal and offspring genotypes.
Maternal genotypes are mainly related with omega-6 fatty acid precursors, and offspring genotypes are related with the more highly elongated fatty acids of the omega-6 series.
Researchers also found that concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) of the Omega-3 series, which is the main component of brain cell membranes, depend on maternal and offspring genotypes.
“Foetal contribution of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega-6 series is more relevant than expected; foetal DHA concentrations depend on maternal and foetal metabolism,” says Dr Lattka.
The amount of DHA transmitted to the foetus through the placenta might be crucial for foetal development, but it is not yet known if maternal DHA concentrations are directly correlated with the offspring’s IQ.
The research has been submitted to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
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