Eat fish, build up brainpower Can pregnant women help boost
their children's brainpower by eating fish? The findings of a
study, presented in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
show how children born to women who consumed more fish during
their pregnancies demonstrated improved outcomes in tests for
verbal intelligence, fine motor skills and prosocial behavior.
Oily fish is the leading source of long-chain omega-3 fatty
acids such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a key structural
component of cells and particularly the cell membranes of the
brain. The European Commission supports health claims that DHA
'contributes to the normal brain development of the foetus and
breastfed infants and to the normal development of the eye of
the foetus and breastfed infants'. (EFSA Journal 2011;9(4):2078)
In the NUTRIMENTHE study, the researchers investigated how fish
mediate the effect and genetic variation on brainpower. The
project partners focused primarily on polymorphisms in the fatty
acid desaturase (FADS) gene