Gestational Diabetes may Fasten Child’s Biological Aging

Gestational diabetes is a quite common form of high blood sugar affecting 2 to 10 percent of pregnant women every year. Children born to mothers with gestational diabetes are found to be older than their actual age.

When women who have been diagnosed with diabetes during pregnancy give birth, their children are more likely to age faster biologically. Also, they are prone to high blood pressure and excess body fat disorders like obesity.

One of the //studies published in the Epigenetics journal states that, around 1,000 or more children born to mothers in China are aged on cellular level. Research conducted shows that they were exposed to gestational diabetes in utero and DNA methylation or epigenetic age.

‘Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that is diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy. It can have adverse and long term effects on the baby’s health. One of those effects is accelerated aging.’

Expedited aging in children has been proved to be associated with poor health outcomes and cardiovascular risks in their later lives.

Fastened aging can be examined by evaluating and comparing the person’s DNA methylation age and chronological age. In fastened aging, the DNA methylation age is greater than chronological age.

Studies postulate that children born to mothers who had diabetes while pregnancy had a higher epigenetic age, in other words, they were older than their actual age.

Diabetes - Oral Hypoglycemic Agents and Glycemic Control
Glycemic control in type 2 diabetes is achieved with oral diabetic medications. Combination drugs and insulin therapy is sometimes required.

Advanced aging is associated with higher weight, increased BMI, higher body fat percentage and upper-arm circumference.

“These findings suggest that gestational diabetes may have long term effects on epigenetic aging in offspring and lead to poor cardio-metabolic outcomes” says Stephanie Shiau, an instructor at the Rutgers school of Public Health.

Gestational Diabetes About
The condition is not caused by a lack of insulin, but by the action of hormones produced during pregnancy that blocks the action of insulin.

Few causes of gestational diabetes include maternity overweight, obesity, family history, high blood pressure and insulin resistance. The body of the pregnant woman cannot produce the extra insulin needed during pregnancy.

Symptoms of gestational diabetes are not evident but the person feels thirstier and hungrier than usual and increase in the tendency of frequent urination.

Gestational diabetes usually happens in the second half of pregnancy and the diagnosis includes blood glucose and oral glucose tolerance tests.

Treatments include consuming a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

Source-Medindia