Fish Consumption during Pregnancy and Impacts on Child Health

Kristen Lyall, ScD (A.J. Drexel Autism Institute); Emily Oken, MD, MPH (Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute); Margaret Karagas, PhD (Geisel School of Medicine and Dartmouth College)

Key Takeaways*:

Dr. Oken noted that:

• Fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential nutrients for optimal fetal brain and eye development.
• The ECHO Cohort’s large, representative population of participants allows researchers to investigate fish consumption and omega-3 supplement intake among pregnant women across the US.
• ECHO Cohort researchers found that a quarter of participants reported no fish intake during pregnancy. Even fewer participants reported taking omega-3 supplements.

Dr. Karagas noted that:

• The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recently released a report on the role of (maternal and child) seafood consumption in child growth and development.
• Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), researchers found that children ages 1–2 years ate fewer than two seafood meals per month on average, and only 6% of children ages 2–19 years reported eating two or more seafood meals per week.
• ECHO’s ongoing follow-up, focus on broad range of health outcomes, and diversity of participants enable it to address a variety of research gaps surrounding the role of fish consumption in child health outcomes.

Dr. Lyall noted that:

• There is an opportunity for ECHO Cohort researchers to significantly contribute to the literature by addressing the relationship between fish intake and supplement use during pregnancy and childhood autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis and autism-related traits in a much larger sample size.
• Higher fish intake, but not supplement use, was associated with lower risk of ASD diagnosis and, to a lesser extent, a lower risk of autism-related traits.

*The content presented in this webinar is the responsibility of the speakers and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Speakers:

Kristen Lyall, SCD

Dr. Lyall is an Associate Professor in the Modifiable Risk Factors Program of the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute.

Emily Oken, MD, MPH

Dr. Oken is Professor and Chair of the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and President of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.

Margaret Karagas, PhD

Professor Karagas is the inaugural chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Geisel School of Medicine and director of the Centers for Molecular Epidemiology and Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research at Dartmouth College.