Understanding the Seafood Controversy – Pregnant Women Should Not Miss Out on Important Omega-3 Fatty Acids!
By Keri Marshall MS, ND
Everyday in America, 16,438 women become pregnant and 11,018 women give birth. Of those sixteen thousand pregnancies, approximately half of them are unplanned. As women, how we take care of our own bodies during our reproductive years will not only benefit our long-term health, but also that of our children. Eating a healthy, balanced diet and getting eight hours of sleep a night are the two most fundamentally important aspects of longevity and health for women.
With regards to sleep, the body needs down time to rest and allow for the parasympathetic nervous system to take over. This window of time when your body is in deep sleep, allows itself an essential time to properly digest food and replenish daily hormone levels in an effort to ready itself for the next day. Sleep also benefits the body in such a way as to allow the body a chance to recover.
A healthy balanced diet means more than just getting in required vitamins and minerals (the RDA) and meeting the basic guidelines of the USDA Food Pyramid. Today, we generally meet these basic requirements, because fortified breads and cereals have made it easy. However, if you look at the current state of health and healthcare in this country, it is clear that these basic guidelines are not optimal. We currently have the highest rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer in modern times.
Many of the fortified foods that are available are also laden with partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup and other unnecessary ingredients that contribute to an unhealthy diet. Not to mention fast food and other convenience foods, which have been created in an effort to make the American way of life “easier.”
Understanding what constitutes a healthy diet can be very confusing. It doesn’t help that much of the information that we read about in health magazines or hear about in media headlines is contradictory. For example, during National Seafood Month, the seafood industry made a big splash in the national news media reporting an industry-supported "study" claiming that pregnant women should disregard the Food and Drug Administration's advice to eat no more than 12 ounces a week of mercury-contaminated fish during pregnancy. This study and its claims stem from a long line of debate between government officials, consumer advocacy groups and the industry itself with regard to environmental toxins that accumulate in a fish during its life span.
The confusion surrounding this study stemmed from research that found that women who ate less than 12 ounces of fish or other seafood a week while pregnant were more likely to have children with verbal and other developmental delays than women who ate more than 12 ounces each week. It is a well-established fact that the essential omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and fish oil are required for proper brain development in infants and children.
What created all the controversy was that the “new recommendations” by the Seafood Industry challenged previous guidelines from the FDA that advises pregnant women to limit their weekly seafood consumption to 12 ounces, or about two average 6 ounce meals. The FDA advisory stems from concerns that eating more fish could impair brain development by exposing developing fetuses to dangerously high levels of methyl mercury.
In the end, the FDA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Academy of Sciences all agreed, that pregnant women should not alter their fish consumption based on the new industry-sponsored recommendations, because the risk mercury toxicity for the unborn child was too great a risk.
Here in lies the dilemma. It is well established that developing fetuses and developing infants need the essential brain boosting omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and fish oil. However, the ubiquitous contamination of our ocean ecosystems has made ocean-caught fish also a source for several toxins that accumulate in the tissue of these animals. The bottom line is that pregnant women do need omega-3 fatty acids during pregnancy, but the richest dietary source of omega-3 fatty acids has associated risks. Do not despair, there is still a safe and effective ways to consume enough essential fats – it is fish oil!
Experts recommend that women consume a minimum of between 300–600 mg of DHA daily while pregnant and breastfeeding. At this point, the FDA’s policies make it impossible for them to endorse the consumption of fish oil supplements, because of the ongoing debate surrounding the FDA, nutritional supplements, and regulation. It is absolutely imperative that women of childbearing years not to wait for the FDA to muddle through their own bureaucracy when it comes to getting enough essential fatty acids for themselves and their future offspring.
High quality fish oil supplements are purified to remove environmental contaminants such as heavy metals. Once the fish oils have been purified, they are analyzed to ensure they are free from potential toxins that may be harmful to developing children. Several scientific studies have compared fish oil supplements to whole fish purchased from the grocery store. These studies have clearly shown that consuming fish oil is a safe and effective way to achieve optimal omega-3 levels without the risk of unwanted environmental contaminants.
Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA is the highest quality fish oil supplement available to pregnant women. An independent laboratory tests every batch of Prenatal DHA to ensure that all environmental toxins such as mercury, lead PCBs and dioxin have been removed. Nordic Naturals products show no detectable lead or mercury when tested down to 10ppb (parts per billion), which is ten times below the Norwegian Medicinal Standard and European Pharmacopoeia Standard Limits for these toxins.
Dr. Keri Marshall is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor who specializes in holistic pediatrics and women's medicine. She has published several scientific papers, magazine articles and most recently wrote a book on proteins and amino acids. Dr. Marshall serves as the scientific advisor to Citizens for Health, a national nonprofit consumer advocacy group working to broaden health care options, create an integrative health system based on wellness, and advance the freedom to make health choices. Devoted to children’s health and wellness, Dr. Marshall also serves as a nutrition expert on the Wellness Committee in the Oyster River School District, helping to change the school lunch program by integrating healthier options. Dr. Marshall received her Naturopathic Medical degree from the National College of Naturopathic Center in Portland, Oregon, a Masters Degree in Social and Preventive Medicine from S.U.N.Y. at Buffalo and a Bachelors of Science from the George Washington University.
