Summary
Quality nutrition is of critical importance during the first 1000 days of human life, conception until a child’s 2nd birthday. Sufficient micronutrition is vital for supporting early childhood development and minimising long term health risks. Fish and seafood products can contain elevated concentrations of micronutrients in comparison to other protein sources, but the potential of this food group is underexploited in the UK. U nderstanding of the role of fish and seafood in early childhood development could act as an important step towards informing and improving public health . To further contemporary understanding of the role that fish and seafood currently plays in the first 1000 days of life in high income countries, the following objectives are being investigated:
Objective 1- T o analyse the quantity and type of seafood expectant mothers and young children in the UK currently consume in order to identify the scope for improved seafood consumption;
Objective 2- To determine commercially available fish and seafood products with the greatest micronutrient concentrations per GBP (£) to identify accessible products for meeting the key nutritional needs of different income groups;
Objective 3 - To examine the level of understanding of the UK fish and seafood safety guidelines for pregnant and breastfeeding women;
Objective 4- To identify the key barriers to seafood consumption amongst expectant mothers and young children and potential mechanisms that might remove these barriers.
Background and Significance
Quality nutrition is of critical importance during the first 1000 days of life. The first 1000 days of life refers to the time from conception through to a child’s second birthday. During this period, significant neurocognitive and physical development occurs that shapes the future health of a child. Micronutrients such as iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium and vitamin D are vital for supporting this early childhood development and minimising long term health risks. Consequently, the demand for micronutrients is increased for mothers supporting the beginning of a child’s life. Severe micronutrient deficiency is rare in the UK and other high income countries but mild deficiencies can still have adverse effects on the health of mothers and babies. There is also a positive correlation between a lack of micronutrient intake and a low socio-economic status so ensuring widespread accessibility to nutritious foods is imperative to ensuring optimal early development for the next generation.
Recognising and informing the public about micronutrient rich, sustainable foods is vital for encouraging healthy diet habits. In the UK, pregnant women receive supplements for folic acid and vitamin D. However, micronutrients are more beneficial to humans when consumed in food, rather than in a supplemental pill. This is due to the surrounding health benefits of food consumption, such as the displacement of less healthy food alternatives, increased protein intakes, and the collective increase of a variety of micronutrients. For example, fish oil supplements do not offer the same health benefits as the consumption of real fish . Seafood products can contain elevated concentrations of micronutrients in comparison to other protein sources. Bivalve shellfish are particularly high in micronutrients, for example containing up to 20 times the amount of vitamin A than beef, pork or chicken. In addition to this, the environmental impact of fish and shellfish production can be lower than other animal production systems. Despite this, in 2019 the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS ) identified the mean consumption of oily fish was 56g in UK adults aged 19-64. The NHS recommends around 140g of oily fish per week. Highlighting the potential for seafood to be a quality, sustainable source of nutrition could be important in improving its consumption.
The barriers inhibiting fish and seafood consumption during the first 1000 days of life have been hypothesised but rarely quantified. Cost, safety, health and environmental reasons will all be investigated in this study. There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the safety of seafood during pregnancy, particularly the risk of heavy metal poisoning . This research aims to understand these further and ascertain what women themselves believe to be the barriers. This novel approach will also enable direct insight into how to encourage optimal, safe seafood consumption, and in turn informed and improved public health.
Data and methods
In order to address objective 1, the National Diet and Nutrition survey (NDNS) data base will be utilised to quantify what women of childbearing age are currently consuming. The NDNS is a database of survey responses on quantitative information of food consumption, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the general population in the UK. This dataset will provide an accurate depiction of dietary choices in the UK which is important because there are upper limits as to how much seafood is recommended during pregnancy and whilst breastfeeding. A dvice to women needs to balance encouraging optimal consumption w ith acknowledging the potential health risks.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tool Beautiful Soup will be used to webscrape data from 10 leading UK supermarkets. This model will enable rolling analysis of fish and seafood prices in the UK and their associated nutritional values. In order to assess product affordability, household food spending needs to be considered. DEFRAs family food dataset details how much of household income is spent on food shops. This dataset includes information on how much UK equivalised income decile groups spend on their food shop and how much of that is currently spent on seafood products . This will enable the analysis of cost as a barrier to improved fish and seafood consumption during the first 1000 days of life.
An online survey has been granted ethical approval and will be used to assess the changes of diet for expectant and new mothers as well as identify the barriers to improves nutrition and women are encouraged to share their thoughts on potential resolutions. The target is to survey greater than 100 expectant mothers and parents/careers to children under 2 years from a diversity of socio-economic backgrounds. Questionnaires distributed to 50 active Facebook groups wil l gather data quantifying fish and seafood intake, guideline understanding level and key barriers to fish and seafood consumption for mothers. The survey also asks women to identify mechanisms that they believe have the potential to remove fish and seafood consumption barriers.
Conclusion
The potential for fish and seafood to help supply expectant mothers and children under the age of 2 with the essential micronutrients required for healthy development is significant. Current under exploitation of nutritious seafood in high income countries, such as the UK, means that there is a n opportunity to sustainably improve public health. Understanding how to improve seafood consumption in this precious period could help enhance positive health outcomes for a future generation.