Pregnant women whose diabetes is not treated will give birth to children who have an increased risk of becoming obese, according to new research appearing in the latest issue of the journal Diabetes Care.
Dr. Teresa Hillier of Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research and colleagues said that a child born to a mother with untreated gestational diabetes had twice the risk of being obese as compared to a child born to a mother having normal blood sugar during pregnancy.
However the study said this risk decreased if the women were treated for their diabetes by being put on a special diet or an exercise regime. Insulin injections could help as well, the study said.
This study involved 9,439 U.S. mothers who were screened for gestational diabetes. All women gave birth between 1995 and 2000. The children of these mothers were weighed at ages 5 and 7.
Researchers found that 24 percent of children born to mothers with normal blood sugar levels were overweight and 12 percent were obese. However 35 per cent of the children born to mothers with high blood sugar levels were overweight and nearly 20 percent were obese.
In women who were treated for their gestational diabetes, 28 percent children were overweight, while 17 percent were obese.
"The key finding here is that the risk of overweight and obese children rises in step with higher levels of blood sugar during pregnancy," said Hillier. "The good news for pregnant women is that by treating gestational diabetes, your children's risk of becoming overweight or obese drops considerably."
Diabetes during pregnancy usually disappears after delivery. However the high sugar levels cause the baby to grow too large and sometimes necessitate delivery through C-sections.
