Exercising During Pregnancy Can Reduce Diabetes Risk In Both Mother And Child, Study Says

Exercising during pregnancy has several health benefits for the mother and her child, a study stated. According to it, some of the health benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle during this period are improving the metabolic health of an obese woman as well as reducing the risk of diabetes for both the mother and her child.

It is worth noting that obesity and overweight are the two main causes of several chronic illnesses, like type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Lack of maternal exercise during pregnancy may lead to excess weight gain, which could eventually result in gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.

Several studies have already highlighted the risk factors associated with extremely high blood pressure and dangerously high blood sugar levels during pregnancy, which included miscarriage and stillbirth.

The latest research, published in the medical journal Physiological Reports last week, focused on the various health benefits of exercising during pregnancy for a mother and her child. The research team found that leading a physically active lifestyle during this period can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in both the mother and the child, it can prevent gestational weight gain and improve the metabolism of an obese woman.

“We believe these changes may explain how exercise improves the metabolism of the obese mother during pregnancy and, in turn, may prevent her babies from developing early signs of type 2 diabetes after birth,” Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri, a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow from the Centre for Trophoblast Research in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement.

“A moderate level of exercise immediately before and then during pregnancy leads to important changes in different tissues of the obese mother, effectively making the tissues more like those seen in non-obese mothers,” co-author Sferruzzi-Perri added.

For the study, the research team made mice gain weight by feeding them high fat, sugary diet and then they were exercised on a treadmill for 20 minutes a day before pregnancy and 12.5 minutes a day until delivery.

At the end of the study, the research team found beneficial effects in how the cells and molecules in maternal tissues communicated during pregnancy. According to the researchers, some of the key organs that were affected by being physically active were white adipose tissue, liver and skeletal muscle.

“Our findings reinforce the importance of having an active lifestyle and eating a healthy balanced diet when planning pregnancy and throughout for both the mother and her developing child,” Susan Ozanne, from the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge, said.

“This can be important in helping to reduce the risk of adverse health problems in the mother and of later health problems for her child,” Ozanne, who co-led the study, added.