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Fish, Mercury, and the Developing Brain

Monday, February 3, 2025

Decades of insights from the Seychelles Child Development study

There is a growing understanding of the role of chronic low-level exposure to environmental toxicants in human diseases. Mercury, a known neurotoxicant at a high level of exposure, is among the top chemicals identified by the World Health Organization as a “major public health concern.” The presence of mercury in fish has led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to recommend that mothers limit fish consumption during pregnancy.

However, more than three decades of research in Seychelles, whose residents eat ten times more fish than in the U.S., has found no evidence of neurodevelopmental harm linked to mercury exposure via fish. In fact, the study suggests that the omega-3 fatty acids and other micro-nutrients found in fish, which are critical for brain development, may counteract any potential adverse effects of mercury.

“The associations between low-level mercury exposure, nutrients, fish consumption, and child neurodevelopmental outcomes are complex. Tackling these questions, which have global health and economic implications, has required an international team,” said University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) epidemiologist Edwin van Wijngaarden, PhD, the principal investigator of the Seychelles Child Development Study.