Gestational Diabetes: Eating This Vegetable Before Pregnancy Ups Risk Of This Condition

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year at least 10% of pregnancies in the U.S. get affected by gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes doesn’t mean that you have had diabetes before pregnancy nor that you will become diabetic post-childbirth.

Although gestational diabetes can be a scary diagnosis, if you work with your doctor, you can have a healthy pregnancy as well as a healthy baby.

Potatoes consumed during pregnancy can lead to gestational diabetes. Consuming a diet rich in potatoes has been found to be associated with increased risk of gestational diabetes and experts recommend replacing them with legumes or other fresh vegetables to lower the risk.

Any woman can develop gestational diabetes but the following women are more likely to develop it:

• Overweight or obese women
• Those who are 25 or older
• Those with prediabetes
• Women with a family history of diabetes

Researchers have reported that consuming too many potatoes before pregnancy might increase the risk of gestational diabetes. Eating 5 or more cups of potatoes every week is found to increase a woman’s risk of gestational diabetes by 50%. Although the study showed a link between potato consumption and increased risk of gestational diabetes, it did not prove cause-and-effect.

Being the third most commonly eaten food crop in the world, about 35% of American women in their childbearing age eat potatoes on a daily basis. Despite being enriched with vitamin C, potassium and fiber, potatoes contain significantly higher amounts of simple carbohydrates that get easily digested and absorbed into the bloodstream.

The study included 116430 nurses aged 24-44 in the period 1991-2001 and found that 21,693 pregnant women developed gestational diabetes. The potato consumption a year prior to pregnancy was also included in the questionnaire. The findings suggested that eating fried or baked potatoes was found to be associated with gestational diabetes.

Gestational diabetes occurs when a mother’s body becomes unable to produce or use all the insulin needed for pregnancy. Without adequate amounts of insulin, the glucose cannot leave the bloodstream and get converted into energy. Elevated blood sugar levels can lead to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Also, insulin resistance makes it difficult for the mother’s body to produce and use insulin. This also means that she might require about thrice as much insulin to compensate.