Low-level mercury exposure in pregnant women connected to ADHD risk in children

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/bawh-lme100512.php

Public release date: 8-Oct-2012
Contact: Tom Langford
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Researchers advise women to consider both benefits and risks of eating fish while pregnant

Boston, MA – Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects approximately ten percent of children worldwide, yet its causes are not well understood. Now, a study led by Susan Korrick, MD, MPH, of Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and Sharon Sagiv, PhD, MPH, of Boston University School of Public Health, and published in the online version of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine on October 8, 2012, links low-level prenatal mercury exposure with a greater risk of ADHD-related behaviors. The study also finds that maternal fish consumption during pregnancy can help reduce the risk of ADHD-related behaviors in children. This duality is possible because many types of fish have low levels of mercury, so it is possible for a pregnant woman to eat nutritionally beneficial fish without being exposed to much mercury.

"These findings underscore the difficulties pregnant women face when trying to balance the nutritional benefits of fish intake with the potential detriments of low-level mercury exposure," said Dr. Korrick.

Dr. Sagiv agrees this study provides an important public health message, saying, "Women need to know that nutrients in fish are good for the brain of a developing fetus, but women need to be aware that high mercury levels in some fish pose a risk."