Your body needs to be able to absorb more and more sugar from your blood when you are pregnant. Your blood sugar levels can get too high if your insulin is not enough. You may then be diagnosed with gestational diabetes. In this article, we'll look at what this means.

Not all pregnant women are able to meet the increased insulin production demands of pregnancy and develop a type of diabetes. insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps break down blood sugar levels (glucose). During pregnancy (especially the latter part), there is a reduced sensitivity to insulin, mainly due to hormones secreted from the placenta. This means that the pancreas has to produce more insulin to compensate. If the pancreas is unable to produce enough, the pregnant woman will develop this type of diabetes.

Who is at higher risk of gestational diabetes?

Those who have one or more of the following:

• Overweight or obese
• Increasing age
• Heredity of diabetes
• Previous pregnancies with GDM
• If you have previously given birth to an oversized baby

What are the risks of gestational diabetes?

If the pregnant woman has elevated blood sugar levels, this in turn leads to elevated blood sugar levels in the fetus (since high blood sugar in the pregnant woman passes through the placenta). The fetus then begins to produce more insulin to deal with the increased blood sugar levels. Insulin is a growth hormone for the fetus and the risk is that the fetus gaining a lot of weight and becomes too large. This in turn can lead to complications during childbirth.

How is diabetes detected during pregnancy? What are the symptoms of gestational diabetes?

Some regions screen all pregnant women for gestational diabetes through a so-called glucose load. Other regions offer glucose load if you have risk factors or receive a randomly too high blood sugar when the midwife tests you during pregnancy. In rare cases, diabetes is diagnosed directly from a finger prick test, if it is too high. In the vast majority of cases, the diagnosis of GDM is made after the pregnant woman has had a glucose load. During a glucose load, the pregnant woman is first fasted from the night before, and then has a blood sugar test before taking the sugar solution, but also 60 minutes and 120 minutes afterwards. The result then diagnoses a possible gestational diabetes.

What diet is recommended for gestational diabetes?

Gestational diabetes is treated with diet and exercise, tablets and/or insulin, depending on the outcome of the glucose load but also on blood glucose levels later in pregnancy. If diagnosed with GDM, the pregnant woman will need frequent blood glucose testing. The doctor can provide guidance on diet and exercise.

The risk of getting diabetes during pregnancy can therefore be significantly reduced with good dietary habits and staying physically active. If you have had GDM, you are at greater risk of developing type II diabetes later in life. Follow-up is normally done via the health center when the pregnancy is over.

Here you can read about preventive exercise during pregnancy.