Health experts have suggested that the pregnant women must eat at least 12 ounces of fish without mercury contamination worries.

The new suggestions do challenge U.S. administration cautions owing to worries that mercury can damage the nervous system of foetuses.

The recommendations are from a group of 14 obstetricians and nutritionists from the National Healthy Mothers, the March of Dimes, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Agriculture Department, Health Babies Coalition, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and among others.

The specialists said that nutrients found in fish and seafood are vital for the development of brain in babies, and will avert postpartum depression in mothers.

Breast-feeding women should east at least 12 ounces of fish or seafood a week as the benefits for child brain growth prevail over the concerns of mercury contamination.

The group also stated that the risk of mercury poisoning is theoretic and that babies need essential nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids for growth, which fish and seafood offer.