Relationship Between Autism And Consumption Of Mercury-contaminated Fish

The effects of mercury on children with autism seem increasingly evident. We’ll walk you through what the latest research reveals.

After decades of research, it ‘s still unclear why many children have autism. However, the relationship between autism and consumption of fish contaminated with mercury during pregnancy could be one of the factors, even if it is not the only one.

What is autism?

Autism, also known as ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), is a developmental neurobiological disorder that manifests in the first three years of life and does not go away.

Two main symptoms are associated with autism:

• Persistent impairments in communication and social interaction
• Restrictive and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities

Signs that may indicate the presence of ASD in children are:

• At nursery or primary school, lack of communication with other children
• They do not share their personal interests. In general, they do not point the finger at what catches their attention to share it with others.
• Lack of symbolic play. Like playing with dolls, playing dinette, playing with cars as if they were real, etc.
• They make little eye contact. And they don’t notice the expression on the interlocutor’s face when they see something unusual together. They are not used to the social smile.
• Their language, if it exists, is literal. They don’t understand jokes, puns, double meanings or metaphors

In general, many scientists agree that genetics also influence whether you have this disease.

What is the connection between autism and mercury?

However, it is believed that during pregnancy or at an early age, many metals like mercury are linked to autism.

Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and the atomic number 80. In ancient literature, it was also commonly called liquid silver. It is a heavy metal with a silvery color belonging to the D block of the periodic table.

Mercury is the only liquid metallic element under normal laboratory conditions.

A study from the University of Bristol analyzed data from more than 4,000 pregnancies. The level of mercury in the mother’s blood has been linked to the onset of ASD in children under 11 years of age.

Professor Jean Golding, epidemiologist and founder of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), says he has found a correlation between the onset of autism in children and the consumption of fish in pregnant women .

This study, used by researchers in health, education and other social science disciplines, was conducted in newborns in the former County of Avon, England, in 1991 and 1992. It is currently directed by George Davey Smith.

The study population was 15,247 pregnant women with due dates between April 1991 and December 1992. Since then, the parents, siblings and children of the participants also began to be studied.

Epidemiological study

The study indicates that 4,484 women have elevated levels of mercury in their blood. She also established that their main food during pregnancy was fish. Of this total, 177 pregnant women had an autistic child, and of the newborns, only 45 had mercury in their blood.

It is remarkable that the rest of these children belonged to disadvantaged social classes. As a result, their mothers did not eat a lot of fish during pregnancy and were subsequently less exposed to this risk factor.

Dr Golding goes further and also says that this has happened in women who had high levels of mercury in their blood during the first half of pregnancy.

Therefore, the study concludes that high fish consumption during the first half of pregnancy increases the likelihood that the unborn child will have autism spectrum disorders, possibly related to mercury.