Hook, Line, and Thinker: Seafood Nets Benefits for Neurocognitive Development

The old saying “seafood is brain food” is among the most persistent nutritional memes. It originated from a casual observation made nearly 140 y ago by the renowned naturalist Louis Agassiz, who noted that both fish and brains are rich in phosphorus. When Mark Twain learned of this comment, he humorously remarked to a group of aspiring authors that, based on their writing samples, they would need to consume “2 middling-sized whales” to achieve professional levels. As the most beloved humorist of his era, Twain’s quip rapidly disseminated across the globe, embedding itself in public consciousness [1]. New Yorkers even flocked to fish markets, hoping that increased seafood consumption might unlock their latent brilliance [2]. Whether or not phosphorus plays a direct role in brain development, the enduring appeal of seafood as brain food feeds an appetite to optimize neurocognitive function through diet. In recent issues of Advances in Nutrition: An International Journal, researchers at Texas A&M University have presented 5 comprehensive systematic and scoping reviews that critically examine both the beneficial and potentially adverse effects of seafood consumption on neurocognitive development. The publication is particularly timely given that the FDA’s final rule—effective February 2025—allows seafood, among other foods, to be labeled healthy [3]. Spoiler alert: the news here continues to be good. Two systematic reviews by O’Connor et al [4,5] examined the effects of seafood consumption on neurocognitive development—one focusing on the prenatal period (pregnancy/lactation) and the other on childhood. The findings further confirm that seafood offers real benefits, even though regulatory and policy frameworks have yet to fully integrate these scientific insights.