Impact of nutrients and Mediterranean diet on the occurrence of gestational diabetes

Abstract

Background:The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is a dietary pattern effective in terms of prevention of many diseases such as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Recently, many studies have paid attention to nutritional factors during pregnancy as a modifiable contributor to GDM risk. Objective: to investigate associations of nutrients intakes and MedDiet pattern of eating with risk of GDM. Subjects/Methods: This study conducted on N = 120; Pregnant women with GDM (n = 60) and without controls (n = 60). The dietary habits were assessed by a dietary history method and a validated food frequency questionnaire. We calculated a MedDiet score which measures the degree of adherence to a Med Diet. Result: A low Med Diet score was found in pregnant women with and without gestational diabetes in 46.7% and 38.8% of cases, respectively, with no significant difference. Our data showed that the higher the adherence score to the MedDiet, the lower the fasting blood glucose level and the plasma glucose 2 h post load. These findings concerned the two groups studied (P < 10 −3 ). We also noted that controls had a significantly higher intake of legumes, vegetables and fish. Monounsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids consumption was significantly higher in the control group (2.3 ± 0.8 vs 1.7 ± 0.7, P < 10 −3 ). GDM subjects consumed significantly more dairy products and cereals (P < 10 −3 ). After adjustment for confounders, no nutrient was associated with the risk of developing gestational diabetes except vitamin D intake (OR 0.29 [0.15−0.54], P < 10 −3 ) which had a protective effect. Conclusion:Our study underlines the importance of adequate vitamin D intake during pregnancy and suggests that the MedDiet may reduce the incidence of gestational diabetes.

Association of Mediterranean diet adherence during pregnancy with maternal and neonatal lipid, glycemic and inflammatory markers: The GESTAFIT project

“…In this context, the Mediterranean diet (MD) might be beneficial for materno-foetal health (Biagi et al, 2019). For the mother, achieving a healthier dietary pattern, such as the MD, seems to lower the risk for gestational diabetes (Izadi et al, 2016;Mahjoub et al, 2021), gestational hypertension (Schoenaker et al, 2015) and is associated with lower triglycerides (Martin et al, 2016) and fasting blood glucose (Mahjoub et al, 2021) concentrations. As for the foetus, greater maternal MD adherence has been associated with a reduced occurrence of preterm birth, better lipoprotein concentration, and insulin sensitivity measured in the umbilical cord (Biagi et al, 2019;Gesteiro et al, 2012Gesteiro et al, , 2015.…”

Association Between Dietary Quality Indices and Atherosclerosis Risk: A Case-Control Study

“…Finally, after summing the scores of the individual components, the overall score of the Mediterranean diet pattern ranged from 0 to 8. 19 …”

“…Finally, after summing the scores of the individual components, the overall score of the Mediterranean diet pattern ranged from 0 to 8. 19 The Mediterranean diet is based on 8 items: vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts, dairy products, cereals, red meat and its products, fish, the ratio of unsaturated fatty acids with a double bond to saturated fatty acids. The median intakes of these foods were calculated for each sex.…”

The prevention of gestational diabetes mellitus (The role of lifestyle): a meta-analysis

“…A recent meta-analysis of the randomized controlled trial showed the efficacy of MedDiet in preventing GDM [ 43 ]. A recent review examined the role of MedDiet in modulating immune response and inflammation during COVID-19 and showed that MedDiet reduced interleukin-6 and inflammatory markers [ 44 ]. A recent case–control study showed that MedDiet reduced GDM incidence [ 45 ], interestingly, women who have rs7903146 T-allele showed a high reduction of GDM compared to their counterparts who are not indicating a gene-diet interaction [ 46 ].…”