On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency together issued a draft update to their joint Advice and Questions & Answers statements regarding fish consumption. Officials in the agencies concluded that evidence supports an increase in the amount of recommended fish in the diets of pregnant and breastfeeding women, women who might become pregnant, and young children. Important in the draft advice is that the fish ought to be species low in mercury in order to benefit from nutrients specific to fish, without the potential toxicity of mercury.

Because of concerns surrounding mercury in fish, the FDA and EPA had recommended limits in their 2004 Advice statement on fish consumption. Some fish build up mercury in their tissues through a process called bioaccumulation. The long-standing Advice set a maximum per week amount but did not suggest a minimum. The update recommends a minimum amount per week for receiving nutrients important in proper human development.

“For years many women have limited or avoided eating fish during pregnancy or feeding fish to their young children,” said Stephen Ostroff, M.D., the FDA’s acting chief scientist. “But emerging science now tells us that limiting or avoiding fish during pregnancy and early childhood can mean missing out on important nutrients that can have a positive impact on growth and development as well as on general health.”

The FDA found, in an analysis of data from 1,000 pregnant U.S. women, that 21 percent ate no fish or ate far less fish than the recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2010). Now the agencies recommend that pregnant women eat eight to 12 ounces–or two to three servings–per week of fish low in mercury. Fish that are low in mercury include, but are not limited to, Pollock, salmon, tilapia, catfish, cod, canned light tuna, and shrimp.