Fish consumption advice is depriving children of neurolipids and other nutrients essential to brain and eye development

Philip Spiller¹, J Thomas Brenna², Susan E Carlson³, Jean Golding⁴, Michael A Crawford⁵, Joseph R Hibbeln⁶, Berthold V Koletzko⁷, John Columbo⁸, Penny Kris-Etherton⁹, Sonja L Connor¹⁰, Clark Carrington¹¹, P Michael Bolger¹¹, Joyce A Nettleton¹², William S Harris¹³, Kristina Jackson¹³, Robert K McNamara¹⁴, Kara M Morgan¹⁵, Nicholas V C Ralston¹⁶, Laura Raymond¹⁷, Michael F Tlusty¹⁸, Caroline M Taylor¹⁹, J J Strain²⁰, Emeir M McSorley²⁰, Maria S Mulhern²⁰, Alison J Yeates²⁰, Marie C Conway²¹, Heather R Adams²², Gene E Watson²², Edwin van Wijngaarden²², Gary J Myers²²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration (retired), College Park, MD 20740, USA. Electronic address: pspiller@verizon.net.
² Dell Pediatric Research Institute, University of Texas at Austin, 1400 Barbara Jordan Blvd, Austin, TX 78723, USA; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
³ Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA.
⁴ Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2PS, UK.
⁵ Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction. Imperial College, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Campus, Room H 3, 29, 369 Fulham Road, London SW10 9NH, UK.
⁶ Section on Nutritional Neurosciences, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health (retired), Rockville, MD, USA.
⁷ Department of Paediatrics, Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, LMU University Hospital, LMU-Ludwig Maximilians Universität Munich, Germany; German Center for Child and Adolescent Health site Munich, Germany.
⁸ Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
⁹ Department of Nutritional Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
¹⁰ Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
¹¹ Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration (retired), College Park, MD 20740, USA.
¹² ScienceVoice Consulting, Denver, CO 80205, USA.
¹³ Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD 57105, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA.
¹⁵ Quant Policy Strategies, LLC., Phoenix, AZ 85045, USA.
¹⁶ Earth System Science and Policy, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA.
¹⁷ Nutrition Research Guidance Section, Sage Green NRG, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA.
¹⁸ School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts at Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA.
¹⁹ Center for Academic Child Health, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Rd, Bristol BS8 2PS, UK.
²⁰ Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health, Ulster University, Coleraine, Northern Ireland BT52 1SA, UK.
²¹ Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health, Ulster University, Coleraine, Northern Ireland BT52 1SA, UK; School of Biological, Health and Sport Sciences, Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
²² School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.

PMID: 40404103
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuro.2025.05.007

Review

Fish consumption advice is depriving children of neurolipids and other nutrients essential to brain and eye development

Philip Spiller et al. Neurotoxicology. 2025 Jul.

. 2025 Jul:109:27-31.

doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2025.05.007. Epub 2025 May 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration (retired), College Park, MD 20740, USA. Electronic address: pspiller@verizon.net.
² Dell Pediatric Research Institute, University of Texas at Austin, 1400 Barbara Jordan Blvd, Austin, TX 78723, USA; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
³ Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA.
⁴ Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2PS, UK.
⁵ Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction. Imperial College, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Campus, Room H 3, 29, 369 Fulham Road, London SW10 9NH, UK.
⁶ Section on Nutritional Neurosciences, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health (retired), Rockville, MD, USA.
⁷ Department of Paediatrics, Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, LMU University Hospital, LMU-Ludwig Maximilians Universität Munich, Germany; German Center for Child and Adolescent Health site Munich, Germany.
⁸ Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
⁹ Department of Nutritional Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
¹⁰ Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
¹¹ Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US Food and Drug Administration (retired), College Park, MD 20740, USA.
¹² ScienceVoice Consulting, Denver, CO 80205, USA.
¹³ Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, SD 57105, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA.
¹⁵ Quant Policy Strategies, LLC., Phoenix, AZ 85045, USA.
¹⁶ Earth System Science and Policy, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA.
¹⁷ Nutrition Research Guidance Section, Sage Green NRG, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA.
¹⁸ School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts at Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA.
¹⁹ Center for Academic Child Health, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Rd, Bristol BS8 2PS, UK.
²⁰ Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health, Ulster University, Coleraine, Northern Ireland BT52 1SA, UK.
²¹ Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health, Ulster University, Coleraine, Northern Ireland BT52 1SA, UK; School of Biological, Health and Sport Sciences, Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
²² School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.

PMID: 40404103
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuro.2025.05.007

Abstract

A large and growing body of published research has found considerable evidence of improvements and little evidence of harm to children's neurodevelopment, including IQ, when pregnant women eat more fish, particularly ocean species. Fish is the primary dietary source for people of omega-3 fatty acids that are essential building blocks for brain structure and function. The human body cannot synthesize adequate amounts of these omega-3s for optimal brain development so they must be obtained preformed, mainly from fish. However, the evidence indicates that women often reduce or eliminate their fish consumption when they become pregnant out of fear that methylmercury will harm their children's neurodevelopment. This discrepancy between scientific findings and behavior appears to be caused or amplified by highly influential federal advice (fish advisories) that have been urging pregnant women to observe precautionary limitations on their consumption since 2001. Our concern is that these limitations are inadvertently encouraging pregnant women to avoid what could be substantial gains to their children's neurodevelopment on a population-wide basis. We discuss how a new fish advisory based on the latest scientific findings could benefit children's brain and cognitive development. We urge the academic/scientific community to develop and disseminate it and use it as a basis for education campaigns.

Keywords: Advisory; Fish; IQ; Methylmercury; Neurodevelopment; Omega-3; Pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest Authors Nicholas V.C. Ralston and Laura Raymond received funding from the Seafood Industry Research Fund in 2019 to publish research findings from a study performed for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) National Center for Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grant RD834792-01: Fish Selenium Health Benefit Values in Mercury Risk Management. Costs to present findings of these EPA studies at meetings were provided by Conxemar in 2020, and InterFish Espana in 2021. No funding agency has had any input in the decision to submit this article for publication. Authors Kristina H. Jackson and William S. Harris are part-owners of OmegaQuant Analytics, a commercial laboratory specializing in fatty acid analysis, and Parasol Nutrition, an omega-3 supplement and testing company. All remaining authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Fish consumption advice is depriving children of neurolipids and other nutrients essential to brain and eye development

Affiliations

Fish consumption advice is depriving children of neurolipids and other nutrients essential to brain and eye development

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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LinkOut - more resources

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Medical