Background: Fish is a rich source of essential nutrients for fetal
development, but in contrast, it is also a well-known route of exposure
to environmental pollutants.
Objective: We assessed whether fish intake during pregnancy is
associated with fetal growth and the length of gestation in a panel of
European birth cohort studies.
Design: The study sample of 151,880 mother-child pairs was derived from
19 population-based European birth cohort studies. Individual data from
cohorts were pooled and harmonized. Adjusted cohort-specific effect
estimates were combined by using a random-and fixed-effects
meta-analysis.
Results: Women who ate fish >1 time/wk during pregnancy had lower risk
of preterm birth than did women who rarely ate fish (<= 1 time/wk); the
adjusted RR of fish intake >1 but <3 times/wk was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.82,
0.92), and for intake >= 3 times/wk, the adjusted RR was 0.89 (95% CI:
0.84, 0.96). Women with a higher intake of fish during pregnancy gave
birth to neonates with a higher birth weight by 8.9 g (95% CI: 3.3,
14.6 g) for >1 but <3 times/wk and 15.2 g (95% CI: 8.9, 21.5 g) for >=
3 times/wk independent of gestational age. The association was greater
in smokers and in overweight or obese women. Findings were consistent
across cohorts.
Conclusion: This large, international study indicates that moderate fish
intake during pregnancy is associated with lower risk of preterm birth
and a small but significant increase in birth weight