Normal body weight before pregnancy could help avoid gestational diabetes: Study

About half the cases of gestational diabetes a common pregnancy complication could be avoided if body weight was maintained in the normal range according to a study that followed almost two million births in Sweden from 2000 to 2020Gestational diabetes in which a pregnant woman develops high blood sugar levels can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes later in lifeObesity and overweight indicated by a higherthan30 body mass index have been studied to have adverse pregnancy outcomesIn this study researchers at Linkoumlping University Sweden estimated the extent to which pregnancy complications could be averted if women had normal weight before conceivingFor example we concluded that about half of all cases of gestational diabetes could potentially be prevented This applies to both women born in Sweden and foreignborn women Maryam Shirvanifar a PhD student at Linkoumlping University and first author of the study published in The Lancet Public Health journal saidThe researchers also found that over a quarter of preeclampsia cases could be avoided if a healthy weight is maintained prior to pregnancy The condition involves high blood pressure and can be accompanied with severe headaches vision problems such as blurring and swelling in feet and ankles among othersThe study looked at both women born in Sweden and those who had moved to the country from regions around the world including Europe Latin America and South AsiaEfforts to promote a healthy weight could be beneficial to all women regardless of ethnicity according to lead researcher Pontus Henriksson a senior associate professor at the Department of Health Medicine and Caring Sciences at Linkoumlping UniversityA healthy weight is good for everyone The earlier in life the better because once obesity is established it is difficult to treat Henriksson saidOf the nearly two million pregnant women studied close to 17000 were born in South AsiaThe number of cases of gestational diabetes attributable to overweight and obesity was about four times higher for women born in South Asia subSaharan Africa and North Africa and the Middle East than for Swedishborn women which is probably due to a higher prevalence of gestational diabetes in the former birth regions the authors wroteSome of the other complications the researchers looked at included infant death in the first year of life premature births and unusual baby sizes at birthThey took data from national registers to analyse the relationship between a womans body mass index prior to pregnancy and complications depending on which region of the world she was born inPromotion of a healthy weight in pregnancy has the potential to reduce the burden of adverse pregnancy outcomes and possibly reduce inequalities in reproductive health the authors wroteAlso ReadObesity diabetes PCOS increasing gynaecological cancers among women ExpertsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever