Can Healthy Diet Reduce Gestational Diabetes Risk?

Pregnant women consuming vegetables, fruits, berries, and wholegrain products during early pregnancy are at lower the risk of developing gestational diabetes.

Highlights:

Most women develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy
Eating a healthy diet during early pregnancy can reduce gestational diabetes risk
Healthy diet includes fruits and vegetables, berries, and wholegrain products

Good news to all pregnant women: Consuming a healthy diet in early pregnancy can reduce the risk of developing gestational diabetes, reveals a new study.//

Obesity is a significant risk factor for developing gestational diabetes mellitus, and an increasing number of pregnant women are overweight or obese. Dietary habits have an impact on both obesity and the onset of gestational diabetes mellitus.

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.

‘Pregnant women can include a lot of vegetables, fruits, berries, and wholegrain products in their daily diet during early pregnancy along with unsaturated fats to lower the risk of gestational diabetes.’

The mother-child study conducted at the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland examined the connection between dietary intake and onset of gestational diabetes in 351 overweight or obese women.

The women's nutrient intake was calculated from food diaries, on the basis of which two dietary patterns, a healthier and an unhealthier dietary pattern, were recognized.

In addition, the overall quality of the diet in reference to that recommended was described with a diet quality index and the inflammatory potential with a dietary inflammatory index.

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“Our research results show that following a healthy diet in early pregnancy reduces the risk of gestational diabetes, says first author,” Doctoral Candidate Lotta Pajunen from the Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Turku.

Diet that increases body’s inflammation heightens the risk of gestational diabetes

Less Than Six Hours of Sleep During Pregnancy Increases Risk of Gestational Diabetes
Short sleep duration is associated with elevated blood sugar levels in pregnancy as well as an increased risk for developing gestational diabetes.

The study also found that a higher dietary inflammatory index, meaning a diet that increases the low-grade inflammatory markers in the body was connected to an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus.

Furthermore, a higher consumption of fat and especially saturated fats was connected to gestational diabetes. This is of interest as the intake of saturated fats is known to increase the body’s inflammation.

Effect of Mediterranean Diet or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Small-For-Gestational-Age (SGA) Birth Weights
The risk for small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth weights in newborns might be curbed down by the interventions like the Mediterranean diet or mindfulness-based stress reduction.

Several methods were used in the study to examine the dietary intake in early pregnancy. These analyses revealed that a diet comprehensively promoting health is associated with a smaller risk of developing gestational diabetes.

“Eating vegetables, fruit, berries, and wholegrain products as well as unsaturated fats is particularly important. These nutrients and foods reduce inflammation in the body and therefore also the risk of gestational diabetes. Mothers who are overweight or obese already before the pregnancy would most likely benefit from dietary guidance in early pregnancy,” says Associate Professor in Nutrition Kirsi Laitinen from the University of Turku, the PI of the Early Nutrition and Health research group that conducted the study.

Source-Eurekalert