Newsgroup: it.salute.alimentazione
Titolo: Se la mamma mangia pesce, il bambino cresce più intelligente

Secondo uno studio pubblicato su Lancet, di cui dà notizia questo articolo
sull'Independent, se la mamma mangia pesce durante la gravidanza, il baby
sarà più intelligente.
Nonostante alcuni timori sull'inquinamento da mercurio e sull'effetto sullo
sviluppo neurologico dei bambini, in pratica lo studio ha osservato  che il
consumo di pesce ha portato solo vantaggi, rispetto a chi invece ha
limitato o non lo ha mangiato per nulla il pesce. 
Lo studio tiene anche conto del fatto che in genere a mangiare più pesce
sono le classi sociali più alte, quindi questo potrebbe essere un vantaggio
per i figli. Ma anche tenendo conto di questo fattore e di altri fattori
che potrebbero condizionare i risultati, dicono che si nota comunque
l'effetto del diverso consumo di pesce.
Come al solito, uno studio non fa primavera e non è la verità definitiva,
ma solo un spunto che potrebbe essere confermato o smentito da altre
ricerche :-)
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2274488.ece
More seafood eaten in pregnancy shown to produce brainier babies 
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor 
Published: 16 February 2007 
Pregnant women now have something else to worry about - whether they are
eating too little, or too much, seafood to give their unborn babies the
best start in life. 
Research published in The Lancet attempts to settle a dispute that has
divided British and US scientists over whether eating fish benefits or
damages the developing brain of a foetus.
Fish absorb mercury, a heavy metal that pollutes the seas, which can harm
brain development. However, fish also contains omega 3 fatty acids and
other nutrients essential to the developing brain. Official US Government
advice is for pregnant women to limit their consumption of all seafood,
including white fish, oily fish and shellfish, to no more than 12 ounces
(340 grams) a week, in order to limit their exposure to mercury.
In the UK, the Food Standards Agency takes a less stringent line advising
expectant mothers to avoid shark, swordfish and marlin and to limit
consumption of tuna. Those are the fish with the highest levels of mercury,
because of their species and the level of pollution in the seas in which
they swim.
The new research into children's behaviour and intelligence suggests that
instead of protecting the unborn baby, women who follow US advice or cut
fish out of their diet altogether may miss out on nutrients that are vital
to the brain's development - and so unwittingly harm their children. The
findings are taken from a study of almost 9,000 British families taking
part in the Children Of The 90s project at the University of Bristol.
Joseph Hibbeln from the US National Institutes of Health, and the Bristol
scientists, including Professor Jean Golding, compared the amount of fish
eaten by pregnant mothers with the development and behaviour of their
offspring up to the age of eight.
Women from socially-advantaged backgrounds were more likely to include fish
in their diet but even after adjusting for 28 different factors - such as
social class, or whether the mother breastfed - there were significant
differences apparent in the children's development.
Mothers who ate more seafood than was considered to be safe according to US
guidelines had children who were more advanced. They had higher IQs, better
social skills, were more communicative and more physically accomplished.
Those children whose mothers had eaten no fish performed worse on all the
same measures.
Dr Hibbeln said: "We have found that when women had low levels of seafood
consumption, the outcome is exactly the opposite of what was assumed by the
United States Advisory. Unfortunately, the advice appears to have had the
unintended consequence of causing harm in a specific developmental domain -
verbal development - where protection was originally intended.
"We recorded no evidence to lend support to the warnings of the US advisory
that pregnant women should limit their seafood consumption.
"In contrast, we noted that children of mothers who ate small amounts, 340g
per week, of seafood were more likely to have suboptimum neurodevelopmental
outcomes than children of mothers who ate more seafood than the recommended
amounts."
The Royal College of Midwives welcomed the research. RCM education and
research manager Sue Macdonald said: "Midwives are very aware of the
importance of advising pregnant women and their families about the added
benefits of eating fish."
The research follows a study published earlier this week which suggested
that women who do not breast feed their babies reduce their chances of
climbing the social ladder. 

 sarà più intelligente.
Si ma poi che cazzo se ne farà in questa società, dell'intelligenza? 

 Si ma poi che cazzo se ne farà in questa società, dell'intelligenza?
Per intelligenza, in questo tipo di ricerche, in genere si intende
Quoziente di Intelligenza, cioè il punteggio che si ottiene in determinati
test. Quale sia poi la reale "intelligenza", nel senso più ampio, di una
persona con alto QI, e quale sia la reale utilità di queste doti in una
società come quella italiana che privilegia clan,  furbizie,
raccomandazioni, mafie e massonerie..., è un altro paio di maniche :-) 
(in inglese: "a different kettle of fish" ;-)