Study: Healthy Diet in Early Pregnancy Reduces Risk of Gestational Diabetes

A new study from the University of Turku in Finland found that a healthy, comprehensive diet that lowers the body’s inflammation reduces the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. The mother-child study was conducted at the university and Turku University Hospital and examined the correlation between dietary intake and the onset of gestational diabetes in 351 women who were overweight or obese.

Nutrient intake was calculated based on the food diaries of participants in the study, the results of which showed 2 dietary patterns emerging. Additionally, the overall quality of the diet in reference to the recommendations was described with a diet quality index and the inflammatory potential with a dietary inflammatory index.

One such pattern that was observed in the results was that study participants who followed a healthy diet in early pregnancy had a reduced risk of gestational diabetes, ecplained the first author Lotta Pajunen, a doctoral candidate from the Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Turku.

Further, the study found that a higher dietary inflammatory index, which demonstrates that a patient’s diet has increased the low-grade inflammatory markers in the body, was connected to an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus. The researchers also observed from the data that a higher consumption of fat and saturated fats was connected to gestational diabetes as well.

This analysis, which used several methods to examine the dietary intake in early pregnancy, disclosed that a diet comprehensively promoting health relates to a decreased risk of developing gestational diabetes.

REFERENCE

Healthy diet in early pregnancy reduces risk of gestational diabetes. University of Turku. December 29, 2021. Accessed January 5, 2022. https://www.utu.fi/en/news/press-release/healthy-diet-in-early-pregnancy-reduces-risk-of-gestational-diabetes