Risks of pregnancy with diabetes
Women who have diabetes are almost four times more likely to have a baby with a birth defect. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
The principle behind a low glycaemic diet is to eat foods which provide a slow release of sugar (complex carbs like brown rice) together with lean protein foods (such as chicken or lentils). Not only can this diet result in weight loss (being overweight is
strongly linked to diabetes), but it also improves the way the body responds to insulin, helping to keep blood sugar low.
Women who have diabetes are almost four times more likely to have a baby with a birth defect.
This is according to a study funded by Diabetes UK involving over 401,149 single-baby pregnancies between 1996 and 2008, in which 1,677 of the pregnancies were of diabetics.
The researchers found that the mother’s blood glucose level at time of conception was related to her risk of having a baby with a birth defect, such as a heart abnormality.
Furthermore, diabetic women from poorer backgrounds, or who did not take folic acid, were at higher risk.
This is why I would advise female diabetics to avoid becoming pregnant unexpectedly. You see, some drugs taken by type 2 diabetics can cause problems for a developing foetus and, in such cases, the women need to take higher than usual doses of folic acid.
For that reason, it is paramount that the diabetes is well controlled before and during pregnancy.
And this is where lifestyle changes can help. Diet and exercise isn’t just more than twice as effective as drugs in preventing diabetes, it’s more cost-effective too. Furthermore, following a low glycaemic diet has been shown to completely reverse type 2 diabetes
(the glycaemic index is a measure of how much a food will affect blood sugar control – the lower, the better).
The principle behind a low glycaemic diet is to eat foods which provide a slow release of sugar (complex carbs like brown rice) together with lean protein foods (such as chicken or lentils). Not only can this diet result in weight loss (being overweight is
strongly linked to diabetes), but it also improves the way the body responds to insulin, helping to keep blood sugar low.
The type of carbohydrate that you eat is also important. “White” foods like rice, flour, bread and pasta all convert very quickly to sugar in the bloodstream.
Choosing “whole” foods, especially wholemeal versions of foods, is a much better option.Along with a low glycaemic diet, include cinnamon in your diet.
Cinnamon contains an ingredient called MCHP, which mimics the action of insulin, and therefore aids blood glucose control. You’d need about half a teaspoon a day to help lower blood glucose.
