title: Maternal seafood diet, methylmercury exposure, and neonatal neurologic function.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether neonatal neurologic function is adversely affected by seafood contaminants from maternal diet during pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred eighty-two singleton term births were evaluated in the Faeroe Islands, where marine food includes pilot whale. Maternal serum, hair, and milk and umbilical cord blood were analyzed for contaminants. Levels of essential fatty acids, selenium, and thyroid hormones were determined in cord blood. Each infant's neurologic optimality score was determined at 2 weeks of age adjusted for gestational age, and predictors were assessed by regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exposures to methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyls were increased in relation to maternal seafood intake, as were omega3 fatty acid concentrations in cord serum. Thyroid function was normal. After adjustment for confounders, a 10-fold increase of the cord-blood mercury concentration was associated with a decreased neurologic optimality score of 2.0 (P =. 03). This effect corresponds to a decrease in gestational age of about 3 weeks. Other indicators of the seafood diet had no effect on this outcome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prenatal exposure to methylmercury from contaminated seafood was associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental deficit. Thus in this North Atlantic population, methylmercury constituted an important neurologic risk factor, although effects of other seafood components were not detectable.
authors.affiliation: Faeroese Hospital System, Thorshavn, Faeroe Islands.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Steuerwald
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Weihe
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bjerve
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Heinzow
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Budtz-Jørgensen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grandjean
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004032:Diet; D004289:Dolphins; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D020262:Mercury Poisoning, Nervous System / Q000209:etiology*; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds / Q000506:poisoning*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000506:poisoning; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D017747:Seafood
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls