Importance of Folic Acid and Omega-3 in a Pregnancy Diet Plan

While reading an article related to a pregnancy diet plan that Isabela had written about Omega-3, I realised that we are in serious trouble with mercury toxic poisoning of our ocean environment, and how it can potentially impact even our pregnancy and fetal development, if we're not informing ourselves of the potential dangers while doing our best to have a healthy pregnancy by incorporating Omega Fish Oils through eating certain types of fish.

This has me wondering how this potential danger might be lurking in the daily Omega-3 supplements I'm taking for my own health maintenance. Below follows an excerpt of this article:

Omega-3 is important for your unborn baby to develop his brain and nervous system. Fish is one of the richest sources of this nutrient. Although fish is an essential part of a diet during pregnancy, some types contain high levels of mercury and should be avoided.

Eating too much mercury-tainted fish can damage to your unborn baby's nervous system. Large predatory fish like swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel contain the highest levels of mercury and are a definite no-no for you to eat when you're pregnant.

Mercury is an element that is found naturally in the environment. When this substance is released into the air, it falls into the water and settles to the bottom. When this happens, the mercury converts to methylmercury and becomes toxic. When the fish that live in contaminated waters feed on other fish, the methylmercury enters their bodies, and accumulates over time.

Safe fish choices during pregnancy include:
• anchovies
• scallops
• wild salmon
• ocean perch
• whitefish
• shrimp
• herring
• catfish
• butterfish
• rock lobster
• sole
• squid
• tilapia
• sardines

Read more........