June 10, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Pregnant or breast-feeding women should increase their weekly consumption of fish, as long as it's lower in mercury, according to new advice issued Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The two agencies now recommend that women eat at least 8 ounces and up to 12 ounces per week of low-mercury fish, to support fetal growth and development. That equates to two or three servings.
Young children and women who might become pregnant should also try to eat a similar amount of fish every week, the agencies said in a newly released draft of updated nutritional advice.
The nutritional benefits of fish outweigh concerns about mercury, the agencies have concluded.
"For years many women have limited or avoided eating fish during pregnancy or feeding fish to their young children," said Dr. Stephen Ostroff, the FDA's acting chief scientist. "But emerging science now tells us that limiting or avoiding fish during pregnancy and early childhood can mean missing out on important nutrients that can have a positive impact on growth and development as well as on general health."
Added Elizabeth Southerland, director of the EPA's Office of Water: "There is now substantial evidence that fish consumption can benefit growth and development in the fetus and young children even though fish contain methyl mercury, and that this beneficial effect is much more likely to occur than harm from methyl mercury."
Previously, the FDA and the EPA recommended maximum amounts of fish that these groups of people should consume, but did not promote a minimum amount. Over the past decade, however, emerging science has underscored the importance of appropriate amounts of fish in the diets of pregnant and breast-feeding women and young children, the agencies said.