Nutritional Interventions for Reducing the Risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Globally, around 16% of women develop complications with diabetes during pregnancy.  Recent research have shown that supplementation with probiotics and myo-inositol may reduce the short-term consequences of diabetes in pregnancy as well as improve the life outcomes of affected infants. 

Lifestyle interventions around diet, exercise and limiting weight gain during pregnancy are recommended, but new studies show that specific supplementation should be considered as well. Myo-inositol, which is naturally found in animal and plant cells, and is in many fresh fruits and vegetables, when given as supplement was shown to decrease the incidence of GDM development in at-risk women by 50 percent. Supplementation with probiotics, beneficial bacteria that helps balance the gut flora, has shown similarly good results.