Gestational Diabetes Quotes

Despite all the medical warnings about ketones, it turns out the fetal brain actually gets approximately 30% of its energy from ketones.[142]

Ketosis may actually be beneficial for moms as well. A high percentage of women with gestational diabetes are overweight at conception or have exceeded their weight gain goals established by their doctor. These women have increased fat stores that can supply energy for the growing fetus and do not necessarily benefit from continued weight gain. Some studies actually found no weight gain or modest weight loss during pregnancy can improve outcomes in obese women.[147]

For comparison, you could eat 2 cups of non-starchy vegetables (such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, etc) to equal the carbohydrates in only ½ cup of cooked rice; or 10 cups of green, leafy vegetables (lettuce, spinach, kale, etc.)!

studies have shown that even healthy, non-diabetic pregnant women will have marked elevation in ketones after a 12-18 hour fast, which is akin to eating dinner at 8pm and having breakfast at 8am (or skipping breakfast entirely).[129]  Compared to non-pregnant women, blood ketone concentrations are about 3-fold higher in healthy pregnant women after an overnight fast.[130] Knowing this, I would expect that every pregnant woman experiences ketosis at some point during her pregnancy.

While we can’t guarantee one dietary pattern will work for all people, to arbitrarily set a minimum recommended level of carbohydrates for pregnancy when we have evidence of cultures reproducing successfully on lower carbohydrate intakes seems illogical.

Suggesting the standard high-carbohydrate diet purely to keep women out of ketosis results in hyperglycemia and the need for medication, usually insulin, which often results in excess weight gain. With weight gain comes a worsening of peripheral insulin resistance, which results in higher blood sugar and the need for ever increasing doses of insulin and medication. It’s a vicious cycle. Plus, the majority of macrosomic babies are born to mothers with excessive weight gain and prepregnancy obesity, not gestational diabetes.[148]

In fact, during this study, the highest levels of blood ketones detected was 0.34mmol/L. True diabetic ketoacidosis typically appears at blood ketone levels of 10-20mmol/L, at least 30-fold higher than the highest level recorded throughout this study. That means that even women  subjected to very-low-calorie diets (which, in this case, were also low in carbohydrates) didn’t experience harmful levels of ketones in their blood.

Note that a baby who is large for gestational age but whose mother is not diabetic is not at risk for low blood glucose. Even in Baby-Friendly hospitals it is sometimes assumed that a baby of 4 or 4.5 kg at birth is at risk for low blood sugar, but this is false.

Approximately 7% of pregnancies are complicated by diabetes that either develops during pregnancy (gestational diabetes) or was antecedent to pregnancy (pregestational diabetes mellitus). In

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) refers to glucose intolerance identified during pregnancy. In most patients, it subsides postpartum, although glucose intolerance in subsequent years occurs more frequently in this group of patients.

Diabetes is actually a group of diseases, all of which are characterized by the inability to produce enough insulin. Type 1 diabetes, which mostly develops in children, occurs when the immune system destroys cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Gestational diabetes arises occasionally during pregnancy when a mother’s pancreas produces too little insulin, giving both her and the fetus a dangerous, prolonged sugar rush. My grandmother had the third and most common form of the disease, type 2 diabetes (also called adult onset diabetes or diabetes mellitus type 2), which is the focus of this discussion because it is a formerly rare mismatch disease associated with metabolic syndrome that is now one of the fastest growing diseases in the world. Between

Gestational diabetes refers to any degree of glucose intolerance with variable severity with the onset or first recognition during pregnancy. This

If a woman with gestational diabetes keeps her blood glucose within normal limits, her chance of complications is the same as a woman who does not have diabetes.

Screening for gestational diabetes at 26 to 28 weeks; generally consists of a 50-g oral glucose load and assessment of the serum glucose level after 1 hour.

The Importance of Prenatal Care for High-Risk Pregnancies Pregnancy is a time of joy and excitement, but for some women, it can also be a time of worry and concern. However, for those with high-risk pregnancies, the road to motherhood can be filled with uncertainty and worry. It is crucial for women with high-risk pregnancies to seek specialized prenatal care to ensure the best possible outcome for both mother and baby. High-risk pregnancies can be caused by a variety of factors, such as advanced maternal age, health conditions like diabetes or hypertension, multiple gestations, and previous pregnancy complications. If you find yourself in this situation, it is important to seek the guidance of a high risk pregnancy specialist near you as soon as possible.