Healthy lifestyle could halve the risk of gestational diabetes
Research from Harvard University, Boston has found that the risk of gestational diabetes could be halved if a healthy lifestyle is followed prior to pregnancy.
The study involved an analysis of data from the Nurses’ Health Study recorded between 1989 and 2001. The Nurses’ Health Study is a collection of data from nurses in the United States that has been running since 1976. The study included 20,136 births from 14,437 nurses that took part in the study. Nurses were aged between 24 and 44 years old at the study of the study period and 70% were aged 40 or above by the end of the study period.
Health and lifestyle figures, such as smoking status and weight, were collected twice each year, a food frequency questionnaire was filled in once every four years and questionnaires on physical activity were completed in 1989, 1991 and 1997.
The results showed that women that ate a relatively healthy diet, exercised more than 2 and a half hours a week and did not smoke, had a 41% lower risk of developing gestational diabetes. When women met these three healthy lifestyle factors and had a healthy weight going into pregnancy, the reduction in risk of gestational diabetes …read more
Source:: News from Diabetes.co.uk