Gestational Diabetes Risk Increased by High Intake of Animal Fat

Fri, 27 Jan 2012
Women who ate a diet high in animal fat and cholesterol prior to pregnancy were more susceptible to gestational diabetes than their counterparts whose diets were lower in animal fat and cholesterol, so say researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Harvard University.

Gestational diabetes is a kind of diabetes which can be experienced during pregnancy . Gestational diabetes heightens the risk of particular complications with pregnancy and health problems in the newborn infant.

Furthermore, the heightened risk of gestational diabetes alongside animal fat and cholesterol seemed to be independent of other, dietary and non-dietary, risk factors for gestational diabetes. Exercise, for example, is considered to lower the risk of gestational diabetes.

Amongst women who exercised, those who ate higher amounts of animal fat and cholesterol were more at risk of gestational diabetes than those whose diets were lower in such fats.

The findings intimate that women who lower the percentage of animal fat and cholesterol in their diets prior to pregnancy can lower their risk of developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy.

The researchers have concluded that altering the source of 5 percent of dietary calories from animal fat to plant-derived sources can reduce a woman’s risk for gestational diabetes by 7 per cent.

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