The Association Between Maternal Prenatal Fish Intake and Child Autism-Related Traits in the EARLI and HOME Studies.
Rachel Vecchione, Chelsea Vigna, Casey Whitman and 12 others
PMID 32519188WHAT IT FOUND
Higher fish intake in late pregnancy linked to more autism traits, not fewer.
Salmon showed the opposite pattern. Results varied by fish type and cohort, with no strong overall evidence that prenatal diet changes child development.
Key findings
01Higher fish intake in the second half of pregnancy was associated with increased Social Responsiveness Scale scores, indicating greater autism-related traits.
02Salmon intake was associated with lower autism-related trait scores, while fatty fish and shellfish were associated with higher scores.
03Associations with cognitive scores were inconsistent: higher fish intake linked to better cognitive scores in one cohort but not the other.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Fish intake in the study population was low, with most women eating fish less than once per week, limiting the ability to detect dose-response effects. The study could not adjust for maternal blood mercury levels or other toxicants, which may confound associations with non-salmon fish. Dietary data was self-reported, which may be inaccurate. The two cohorts used different cognitive assessment tools, making direct comparison difficult. Sample sizes for some subgroups, such as supplement users, were small, leading to imprecise estimates.
Declared interests
The paper does not explicitly state funding sources or conflicts of interest in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the association between higher fish intake and increased autism traits as causal evidence that fish harms neurodevelopment. The study found no strong overall associations, and the specific findings varied by fish type and cohort, suggesting these results may be due to chance or unmeasured confounders rather than a true dietary effect.