A healthy diet in the first trimester may reduce the risk of diabetes in pregnancy

On August 21, 2011, at the Siriki Sports Center on the outskirts of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, a pregnant woman's family painted on her belly. (Xinhua News Agency)

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 2 (Reporter Li Wen) Obesity is an important risk factor for diabetes in pregnancy. The University of Turku in Finland recently issued a press release saying that a study in which researchers from the university participated showed that eating habits have an impact on the onset of obesity and gestational diabetes, and paying attention to healthy diets in the first trimester can reduce the risk of gestational diabetes.

The researchers investigated the relationship between dietary intake in 351 overweight or obese pregnant women and the onset of diabetes mellitus during pregnancy. The researchers divided the pregnant women into two groups based on their first-trimester diet diaries, one with healthy eating habits and the other with less healthy eating habits. Healthy eaters tend to eat vegetables, fruits, rye bread, fish, poultry and eggs, while people with unhealthy diets tend to eat ice cream, desserts, candy, chocolate, popcorn, potato chips and drinks.

The findings suggest that healthy eating habits in the first trimester reduce the risk of gestational diabetes. Consuming too much fat, especially saturated fatty acids, increases the body's inflammatory response, thereby increasing the risk of gestational diabetes.

The researchers pointed out that pregnant women should eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grain foods and foods rich in unsaturated fatty acids. These foods can reduce the risk of developing inflammatory reactions in the body, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes in pregnancy. Women who were already overweight or obese before pregnancy were most likely to benefit from dietary guidance in the first trimester.

The study has been published in the European Journal of Nutrition.