Prevention – There are no guarantees when it comes to preventing gestational diabetes — but the more healthy habits you can adopt before pregnancy, the better. If you’ve had gestational diabetes, these healthy choices may also reduce your risk of having it again in future pregnancies or developing type 2 diabetes in the future.
Eat healthy foods. Choose foods high in fiber and low in fat and calories. Focus on fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Strive for variety to help you achieve your goals without compromising taste or nutrition. Watch portion sizes. Keep active. Exercising before and during pregnancy can help protect you from developing gestational diabetes. Aim for 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week. Take a brisk daily walk. Ride your bike. Swim laps. Short bursts of activity — such as parking further away from the store when you run errands or taking a short walk break — all add up. Start pregnancy at a healthy weight. If you’re planning to get pregnant, losing extra weight beforehand may help you have a healthier pregnancy. Focus on making lasting changes to your eating habits that can help you through pregnancy, such as eating more vegetables and fruits. Don’t gain more weight than recommended. Gaining some weight during pregnancy is typical and healthy. But gaining too much weight too quickly can increase your risk of gestational diabetes. Ask your health care provider what a reasonable amount of weight gain is for you.
Can gestational diabetes be avoided?
Prevention – Before you get pregnant, you may be able to prevent gestational diabetes by losing weight if you’re overweight and getting regular physical activity, Don’t try to lose weight if you’re already pregnant. You’ll need to gain some weight—but not too quickly—for your baby to be healthy. Talk to your doctor about how much weight you should gain for a healthy pregnancy.
What causes gestational diabetes in pregnancy?
What causes gestational diabetes? – Gestational diabetes occurs when your body can’t make the extra insulin needed during pregnancy. Insulin, a hormone made in your pancreas, helps your body use glucose for energy and helps control your blood glucose levels.
- During pregnancy, your body makes special hormones and goes through other changes, such as weight gain.
- Because of these changes, your body’s cells don’t use insulin well, a condition called insulin resistance,
- All pregnant women have some insulin resistance during late pregnancy.
- Most pregnant women can produce enough insulin to overcome insulin resistance, but some cannot.
These women develop gestational diabetes. Pregnant women who can’t make enough insulin during late pregnancy develop gestational diabetes. Being overweight or having obesity is linked to gestational diabetes. Women who are overweight or have obesity may already have insulin resistance when they become pregnant.
Gaining too much weight during pregnancy may also be a factor. Having a family history of diabetes makes it more likely that a woman will develop gestational diabetes, which suggests that genes play a role. This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by the NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.
Can eating too much fruit cause gestational diabetes?
How Could Fruit Cause Gestational Diabetes? – It’s important to note a correlation isn’t necessarily a cause, rather a connection or a link. However, this study found women who consumed large amounts of fruit had a 400% increased risk of developing gestational diabetes (GD).
Diabetes is diagnosed when someone has too much glucose in their blood. In the case of GD, this only occurs during pregnancy in a woman without type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The reason a woman without type 1 or type 2 can develop diabetes during pregnancy is due to hormones from the placenta which impact blood sugar.
Consuming a lot of fruit means you’re consuming a lot of fructose. While it’s a naturally occurring sugar, and far better for you than processed sugars, fructose can still impact your blood sugar. Consuming large amounts of fruit on a regular basis appears to have the potential to impact your blood sugar in a way which significantly increases your risk of developing GD.
What puts you at higher risk for gestational diabetes?
Risk factors – Risk factors for gestational diabetes include:
Being overweight or obese Not being physically active Having prediabetes Having had gestational diabetes during a previous pregnancy Having polycystic ovary syndrome Having an immediate family member with diabetes Having previously delivered a baby weighing more than 9 pounds (4.1 kilograms) Being of a certain race or ethnicity, such as Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Asian American