Type 2 Diabetes - Diet and Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes consists of abnormally high blood sugar levels during pregnancy. It can be controlled with diet, exercise and medication, but pregnancies complicated by Gestational diabetes must be managed carefully.

Investigators at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada, set out to discover whether the mother's diet during the second trimester of their pregnancy could influence whether they would suffer Gestational diabetes during their last trimester. (Pregnancies are divided up into three trimesters, equal divisions of a normal 40-week pregnancy).

The study, whose results were published in September 2012 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, included 205 pregnant women without Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes at the start of their pregnancy. Forty-seven per cent were diagnosed with Gestational diabetes by 30 weeks of pregnancy.

Mothers diagnosed with Gestational diabetes tended to have consumed more saturated and trans fat, and more sugar than those with a healthy pregnancy. Higher vegetable and fruit fiber intake were associated with a lower risk for the condition, and higher insulin sensitivity.

From this information, it was concluded diet during their second trimesters of pregnancy influenced the patient's risk of having Gestational diabetes in their third trimesters.

The study was consistent with earlier work at Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in Northern California, USA, and reported on in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology in February of 2010. Eleven hundred and forty-five women were included in this study, which demonstrated those who gained more than the recommended safe weight gain during pregnancy, increased their risk of Gestational diabetes by 50 per cent.

According to the Mayo Clinic, appropriate weight gain during pregnancy depends upon the mother's weight before pregnancy...

• for an underweight woman, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 or less, 28 to 40 pounds is recommended.
• a woman of normal weight, with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9, should gain 25 to 35 pounds.
• for a woman who is overweight, defined as having a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9, 15 to 20 pounds are adequate, and
• women with a BMI of 30 or over need gain only 11 to 20 pounds.

Check with your doctor for the right target weight gain for you, and bear in mind most weight gain typically takes place in the last trimester. "Eating for two" does not necessitate overeating; adding 100 to 300 calories per day is usually enough. A healthful diet with little saturated or trans fats or refined sugar and a good supply of fruits and vegetables is a good idea all the time, and perhaps even more important when you are taking in nutrients for two.

Type 2 diabetes is no longer a condition you must just live with. It need not slowly and inevitably get worse. If you have Gestational diabetes, take care with the type and amount of food you are eating. You can take back your health in order to prevent developing full-blown Type 2 diabetes..

For nearly 25 years Beverleigh Piepers has searched for and found a number of secrets to help you build a healthy body.

The answer isn't in the endless volumes of available information but in yourself.


By Beverleigh H Piepers


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