Trusted Information for Healthy Pregnancies
diabetes
Glucose Intolerance in Pregnancy Associated With Postpartum Cardiovascular Risk
Dec 6th
Women who have gestational glucose intolerance (a condition less severe than gestational diabetes) exhibit multiple cardiovascular risk factors as early as three months after birth, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
Breastfeeding Could Offer Protection Against Metabolic Disorder
Dec 3rd
Breastfeeding may offer mothers long term protection against a condition linked to diabetes and heart disease, researchers report today.
The longer women breastfed, the lower their chance of developing metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors such as high blood pressure and high triglycerides associated with obesity, the scientists found.
"Pregnancy may have some adverse effects on some of these cardiovascular risk factors," lead author Erica Gunderson says, "and lactation (breastfeeding) may offset some of these effects."
The impact of breast-feeding on the risk of metabolic syndrome was "slightly stronger" in women who'd had gestational — or pregnancy-induced — diabetes, says Gunderson, an epidemiologist and research scientist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland. "This is the first study to really look at lactation and the metabolic syndrome in women with GDM (gestational diabetes)."
About 18%-37% of U.S. women ages 20 to 59 have metabolic syndrome, Gunderson says. A study she published in August found women with gestational diabetes are 2½ times more likely than other women to develop the condition after pregnancy.
Gunderson and her co-authors based their new findings on 704 women in an ongoing, government-funded study of heart-disease risk factors. When the women entered the study in 1985-1986, they were ages 18-30 and had never given birth; testing confirmed they didn't have metabolic syndrome.
They all went on to deliver at least one child; only 16% had more than two children. They returned for measurements of metabolic syndrome components seven, 10, 15 and 20 years after entering the study; 120 developed metabolic syndrome.
In women who didn't have gestational diabetes, breast-feeding cut metabolic syndrome risk 39%-56%. In those who did, it cut the risk 44%-86%. In both, the authors write in Diabetes: The Journal of the American Diabetes Association, the longer women breast-fed, the lower their risk.
Breast-feeding is associated with a quicker loss of pregnancy weight, but that's only "a little bit of the explanation," Gunderson says. Another possibility, she says: Breast-feeding might minimize the accumulation of belly fat, fat linked to type 2 diabetes risk.
Source
Sugary Soda Tied to Gestational Diabetes
Dec 2nd
Women who drink five or more servings of sugar-sweetened cola per week before they conceive increase their risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy, a new study indicates.
"Previous studies have shown an association with other chronic metabolic problems," said study author Dr. Liwei Chen, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, in New Orleans. "This is the first to show an increased risk among pregnant women."
Gestational diabetes, known as glucose intolerance during pregnancy, is one of the most common complications of pregnancy. It increases the chances of lifelong diabetes for the woman and also can have permanent effects on the unborn child, Chen said. The report appears in the December issue of Diabetes Care.
"Other studies suggest that babies born to women who are diabetic during pregnancy have higher weight at birth and also higher rates of obesity and diabetes early in life," she added.
Chen, working with researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, studied 10 years of medical records on a group of 13,475 women from the Nurses' Health Study II. After adjusting for known risk factors for gestational diabetes, such as age, family history and smoking, the researchers found that women who had more than five servings per week of sugar-sweetened cola beverages had a 22 percent higher risk of gestational diabetes than women who had less than one serving per month.
No such association was found for consumption of other sugar-sweetened beverages or artificially sweetened drinks.
It's not clear why only cola drinks are associated with the increased risk, Chen said. One explanation could be "the tremendous popularity of cola in the United States," she said.
According to the journal report, there are several potential explanations for the association. For example, sugar-rich foods or beverages can overload the body with glucose, which can impair the function of the beta cells of the pancreas, which make insulin that metabolizes glucose.
Sugar-sweetened beverages are the leading source of added sugar in the American diet, Chen said. The U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that soft drink intake more than doubled between 1977 and 2001 among 19- to 39-year-old Americans, going from 4.1 percent to 9.8 percent, and that those in this age group had the highest rate of soft drink consumption.
Source
Good News for Pregnant Women With Multiple Sclerosis
Nov 18th
- Good news for women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant.
- A study published Wednesday shows that although women with MS have a mildly increased risk of certain pregnancy complications, by and large, their pregnancies are as healthy as other women's.
- Using a national database on nearly 19 million deliveries in the U.S., researchers found that women with MS had marginally higher risks of cesarean delivery and intrauterine growth restriction -- where a newborn's weight is below the 10th percentile for his or her gestational age.
- Among more than 10,000 women with MS who gave birth between 2003 and 2006, 42 percent had a C-section, compared with roughly 33 percent of women overall. Meanwhile, intrauterine growth restriction was seen in almost 3 percent, versus 2 percent of other women. Still, the overall findings, published in the medical journal Neurology, are being seen as good news for women with MS -- a disorder that is more prevalent among women of childbearing age than any other group.
- MS is believed to arise from an abnormal immune system attack on the body's own myelin, a protective sheath surrounding nerve fibers in the brain and spine. This leads to symptoms such as muscle weakness, numbness, vision problems and difficulty with coordination and balance.
- Years ago, women with MS were advised to avoid pregnancy, out of concern that it could exacerbate the disease. But studies in recent decades have shown that the opposite is true; many women see a remission in their symptoms during pregnancy -- possibly because immune system activity naturally declines and levels of anti-inflammatory corticosteroids naturally rise during pregnancy.
- The current study included information on 10,055 pregnant women with MS, as well as 4,730 with epilepsy and 187,239 with diabetes -- two disorders already associated with higher risks of certain pregnancy complications.
- Overall, women with either MS or epilepsy had elevated risks of C-section delivery and intrauterine growth restriction compared with U.S. women overall. They did, however, generally fare better than women with diabetes, who had higher rates of additional complications, like high blood pressure and premature rupture of the sac surrounding the fetus.
- Women who are planning on becoming pregnant also need to talk with their doctors about whether they should stop taking any of their MS medications. It is not known whether the so-called disease-modifying drugs often used for MS are safe during pregnancy, and research suggests that at least one -- beta-interferon -- may be associated with miscarriage.
- Chakravarty noted that the drug methotrexate, sometimes used for MS, is known to cause birth defects.
Exercise Until End of Pregnancy Deemed Beneficial
Nov 12th
"Partaking in low-level physical activity has beneficial effects on materno-fetal health." These findings have recently been published in the International Journal of Obesity and highlight the benefits for the health of the baby and the mother when a physically-active lifestyle is maintained throughout pregnancy.
"An exercise regime carried out during the second and third trimester of pregnancy does not harm the health of the fetus," said Jonatan R. Ruiz, researcher at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and principal author of this study, who has coordinated a team from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in collaboration with the Swedish centre.
160 healthy women between the ages of 25 and 35 took part in the study, all of whom had sedentary habits and no risk of premature birth. Of this group of women, half followed an exercise regime under the supervision of experts in Physical Activity and Sports Science in collaboration with the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Unit of Hospital Severo Ochoa in Madrid.
The researchers used multiple variables to assess the health of the fetus (body weight, size and gestational age) in women, and they analyzed the effect of the training program carried out during the second and third trimester of pregnancy on the weight and size of the fetus.
"Body size and gestational age, as well as other health parameters, were similar in the group of women who followed the exercise regime compared to those who did no form of physical activity during pregnancy, which indicates that exercise poses no threat to the health of the fetus," Ruiz emphasizes.
The authors also measured the pre-pregnancy body weight of the mother, the body size of the fetus, and whether diabetes was developed during gestation. In the group of women who did not partake in any exercise (control group), it was observed that the mother's weight before becoming pregnant was positively associated with the weight of the newborn.
"Sedentary mothers of higher pre-gestational weight gave birth to heavier newborns. This relationship, however, was not observed in the group of women who exercised during pregnancy," the researcher concludes. According to experts, babies with excessive weight (more than 4 kg) are more at risk of developing diabetes and certain types of cancer as adults, in addition to complications that may occur at birth.
Source
Lower Pregnancy Risks By Asking Mom’s History
Nov 12th
Experts say it's wise to know both your parents' health histories, but ask your mom the right questions and you may be able to avoid a struggle later on. "Knowing your mother's gynecological history can really arm you with what you need to know to take proactive steps in the future," says Tracy Gaudet, MD, executive director of Duke Integrative Medicine at Duke University and author of Body, Soul and Baby. Here are questions to help you start talking:
Did you have preeclampsia?
Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-induced condition that’s marked by high blood pressure, excess protein in the urine, severe headaches, and sudden weight gain that can lead to preterm birth and may require bed rest or induced labor near the end of a pregnancy. Women whose mothers had it are often thought to be at higher risk during their own pregnancies. But other factors may be more significant than your mom’s experience, Dr. Greene says. They include being overweight or older than 35, carrying multiples, having preexisting high blood pressure, or simply being pregnant for the first time. Of course, if you have any of these risk factors to go along with a mom who had preeclampsia, that can nudge the risk even higher.
How knowing helps: Tell your obstetrician if your mom had preeclampsia; she may want to monitor you extra closely. Keep your weight gain in the safe range (25 to 35 pounds if you’re not over- or underweight starting out), and go easy on salty and sugary foods.
Do we have a family history of any disease?
Family history can predict many health risks beyond gyno concerns, including heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, osteoporosis, depression, and stroke. You want to know both of your parents’ histories, “but the links to these diseases are often stronger on the maternal side for a daughter,” Dr. Pinkerton says.
How knowing helps: Your mom’s history may prompt your doc to refer you to a genetic counselor, who can discuss a blood test that screens for genetic mutations. For many other diseases, a healthy lifestyle and simple preventive measures (such as watching your sugar intake if diabetes is a threat) can lower your risk, no matter the family connection. If your mom suffers from low bone mass, or osteopenia, that’s useful info, Dr. Pinkerton says.
“You’ll want to build bone density in your 30s by eating enough calcium and doing weight-bearing exercises like lifting weights or practicing yoga,” she explains. And in your mid-40s, a bone-density test should go on your list of issues to discuss with your doctor.
Read about Genetically Related Birth Defects.
Source