What Causes Gestational Diabetes? Key Facts on Where it Comes From and How to Control It

Gestational Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that tends to originate during the later stages of pregnancy. In the United States alone, around 135,000 pregnant women suffer from it every year.  And these numbers keep on increasing every year.  As like any other form of diabetes, this condition also involves abnormally increased concentrations of glucose in the blood.  However, nobody is absolutely sure about what causes gestational diabetes. Interestingly, the causes of the disease play an important role towards controlling gestational diabetes.

Exactly What Causes Gestational Diabetes?

According to experts, it is not possible to pinpoint the exact causes. However, research studies have revealed certain clues.

1. During pregnancy, the baby receives its nutrition from the mother through the placenta. Also, the placenta releases certain important body hormones such as estrogen and cortisol that are essential for protecting the health of the fetus.  Ironically, these same hormones also block the insulin receptors present on the cells, thereby causing reducing insulin response.  This phenomenon is better known as insulin resistance.  As a result, the body's normal response to insulin gets blocked, thereby causing problems in glucose absorption and metabolism. 

2. For preventing gestational diabetes occurrence in women, the human body adapts a natural control mechanism where the pancreas does excess work and produces extra quantities of insulin to cope with the situation.  It occurs when the pancreas can no longer produce any extra insulin.  At this point, a pregnant woman might need three times more insulin for controlling gestational diabetes.  An interesting fact about this condition is that the disease appears in 24th or 26th week of pregnancy. As the pregnancy time increases, the amount of placental hormones secreted into the blood also increase.  Due to this, even insulin resistance also increases.

3. Chances of this condition occurring increases in cases where the woman is aged above 35 years, has a familial history of this condition, is suffering with polycystic ovary syndrome, is obese, has already given birth to a child with birth defects or in women who had experienced this ailment during their first pregnancy.

Controlling This Condition:

It usually disappears after pregnancy.  However, controlling gestational diabetes is extremely important during pregnancy.  Otherwise, it can lead to severe complications in the fetus such as congenital defects, abnormal physiological and neurological developmental patterns, and conditions such as macrosomia, jaundice, hypoglycemia and injuries during birth time.  In the mother, this condition causes formation of overweight baby.  Due to this, delivery becomes extremely traumatic.  In women with this condition, there is an increased risk of preeclampsia characterized by hypertension and presence of excess protein in the urine. Also, women tend to develop type 2 diabetes after a couple of years.

Proper Prevention:

An important point to remember is what causes gestational diabetes is not nearly as important as preventing it from occurring or reoccurring in in the final analysis.  Some effective preventive measures include eating healthy foods that are rich in proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, mineral and other nutrients, ensuring regular physical activity, maintain an appropriate height-to-weight ratio and lead a stress free life.

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What is Gestational Diabetes and What You Can Do to Control It

Many women who become pregnant are unfamiliar with gestational diabetes until they are diagnosed during their second trimester. If you are currently pregnant or are trying to get pregnant then it is important that you are aware of this condition that affects only about 4% of all pregnant women. Most women are not affected by gestational diabetes but with the increasing obesity rates and un-healthy eating habits it is becoming more of a problem.

Gestational diabetes is a disease that appears during pregnancy and goes away once the baby has been born. In a few instances it does not go away causing the woman to become a type 2 diabetic. Most doctors attribute this problem with the hormonal changes that take place in a pregnant woman but there is still no clear cut known cause. No matter the cause it is a very serious issue that if left untreated can have severely negative health effects on both mother and baby.

Most women who are eventually diagnosed with gestational diabetes are unaware that they have it. This is why it is important that every pregnant woman get tested during their 24th to 28th week of pregnancy. If there are symptoms they will manifest much like any other person who is affected by diabetes. Increased frequency of urination, constant hunger despite eating, general fatigue and lethargy, carbohydrate cravings, increased thirst, and weight loss are all signs of gestational diabetes.

Gestational diabetes is characterized by high blood sugar levels during the term of a woman's pregnancy. Fortunately it is easy to control it effects through changes in diet and exercise frequency. Normally these lifestyle changes are easy to incorporate into daily life and the health benefits far out-weigh any inconvenience they might pose. The changes in diet consist of eating healthy foods and avoiding sugar and other high carb foods. If you are diagnosed your doctor will recommend a dietician who specializes in helping women with gestational diabetes. Working together with your health care practitioners you can create a gestational diabetes diet that best fits your needs.

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