Is cod safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about cod during pregnancy?

1. Cod is listed in the Best Choices category, which carries a 2 to 3 serving per week allowance in pregnancy at 4 ounces per serving. 1
2. Cod averages 0.111 parts per million of mercury across 115 FDA samples, well inside the low-mercury band. 2
3. A 3-ounce serving of cod supplies 146 mcg of iodine against a pregnancy recommended intake of 220 mcg a day, and early in pregnancy the fetus depends entirely on thyroid hormone supplied by the parent. 3
4. Refrigerated smoked seafood is a separate question from fresh fish and should be skipped unless it is an ingredient in a fully cooked dish, because listeria in pregnancy raises the chance of uterine infection, preterm delivery, and low birth weight. 4
5. In a systematic review, high seafood intake in pregnancy above 340 g a week was associated with a significant drop in the share of children scoring in the suboptimal IQ range at age 8, provided the fish chosen was low in mercury. 5

Is cod safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. Iodine matters early, because in the first weeks your baby has no working thyroid and runs entirely on the thyroid hormone you supply. A single 3-ounce piece of cod covers most of a day's iodine need on its own. If nausea has you off fish, say so at your booking visit rather than quietly skipping it.
• Second trimester. Cod is forgiving to cook, which helps when you are trying to hit two or three fish meals a week without much effort. Batter and deep-frying do not change the mercury picture at all, though the fish inside a thick batter is harder to check for doneness. Baked or poached makes the flake test easy.
• Third trimester. Cod is a lean white fish, so it is a strong iodine and protein choice but a modest one for DHA. Since DHA builds fastest in the brain and retina during these last weeks, it is worth pairing cod across the week with an oily fish. Your provider can tell you whether your prenatal already covers the gap.