Hawaii’s ethnically-diverse women are at high risk for the development of diabetes in pregnancy. Known as gestational diabetes, or GDM, this weight-related condition puts women at higher long-term risk of developing diabetes and all its related complications including heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease. GDM also increases the health risk for babies including a higher risk of pregnancy complications and a higher C-section rate.
What’s new are findings from a small study reported by the Endocrine Society that suggests the unborn children of moms with GDM may be less responsive to sounds.
This is the first time that a study has linked the presence of GDM in a mom with slowing in an unborn baby’s brain activity. Whether this can affect babies’ ability to learn after birth is unclear. But it is suggestive that the mother’s metabolism can program her child’s metabolism in a manner that may have implications for the child’s risk of obesity and diabetes later in their life.
Lower your risk of GDM by optimizing your body composition prior to pregnancy. Come talk with us about how it’s done!
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