One study found that the combination of not smoking, exercising 150 minutes or more per week, and healthy eating reduced the risk of gestational diabetes by 41%. Not all women with gestational diabetes have preexisting issues with glucose tolerance or insulin resistance, but research does show that wise preconception practices may prevent some cases of gestational diabetes. ![]() Women who have gestational diabetes have a 7-fold higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Moreover, gestational diabetes is increasingly believed to be an early indicator for the later development of diabetes, which means a woman’s insulin resistance continues or worsens years after they give birth. As their pregnancies progressed, their insulin resistance got more severe, as a natural result of placental hormones and weight gain, resulting in elevated blood sugar. That means, for these women, gestational diabetes wasn’t just a phenomenon of placental hormones, it was actually preexisting prediabetes (an A1c of 5.7%-6.4% indicates prediabetes). In one study, a first trimester A1c reading of 5.9% or greater accurately predicted the development of GD 98.4% of the time. However, researchers have now found that gestational diabetes can be predicted earlier, by relying on a blood test called hemoglobin A1c (for short, A1c). This is why gestational diabetes is classically screened for around 24-28 weeks of pregnancy. In years past, it was thought that the elevated blood sugar levels seen with gestational diabetes only begin to occur in the second and third trimester, when placental hormones are at their peak and insulin resistance spikes. Why Early Screening for Gestational Diabetes is Helpful This is especially true if a woman already has some level of insulin resistance before becoming pregnant, which is becoming more common. However, in our modern world where food is rarely scarce and refined carbohydrates are everywhere, this adaptation can work against us. This means, even if you haven’t been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, it’s helpful to understand how and why your metabolism changes during pregnancy (and how certain dietary changes can help ensure the health of your baby).įrom a biological perspective, slight insulin resistance is incredibly important since it allows a baby to survive even if a pregnant woman experiences famine or short periods of starvation. Technically all women experience some degree of insulin resistance during pregnancy as it’s a natural metabolic shift that serves to shunt glucose and nutrients to a growing baby. I prefer to rely on the latter description because, at the end of the day, gestational diabetes is the result of insulin resistance, which means a woman is unable to tolerate large amounts of carbohydrates without experiencing high blood sugar. However, it can also be defined as “insulin resistance” or “carbohydrate intolerance” during pregnancy. ![]() Gestational diabetes is usually defined as diabetes that develops or is first diagnosed during pregnancy. I’ll also be sharing why the typical gestational diabetes diet fails and why a real food, nutrient-dense, lower carbohydrate approach is ideal for managing gestational diabetes. Whether or not you have gestational diabetes, this post will help you understand how it develops and why it’s important to maintain normal blood sugar (for all pregnant women, really). As a registered dietician/nutritionist and certified diabetes educator who specializes in gestational diabetes, I’m going to clear up some of the confusion for you today. Yet there are many misconceptions about this diagnosis, both in conventional health care and the integrative medicine world. īut it is the most common complication of pregnancy, affecting up to 18% of pregnant women. Real Food For Gestational Diabetes: What You Need To Knowīy: Lily Nichols, RDN, CDE, CLT, author of Real Food for Gestational Diabetes Gestational diabetes is never part of any mom’s plan.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |