According to a recent study, researchers from Augusta University explain that women who acquire diabetes during their pregnancy may end up passing it on to the child still blooming in their wombs. The mother's diet consists of high glucose and fatty foods that can lead to diabetes and obesity in children as they grow older. The study also highlighted that the number of women obtaining this disease during pregnancy is increasing dramatically.
Dr. Jennifer Thompson of National Institute of Health has already been granted a fund of $1Million for a period of five years to study the impact of gestational diabetes in children. The grant was awarded to new age researchers who can help find some answers related to this issue.
As Thompson's research is focused on gestational diabetes, she explains that "With very high rates of maternal obesity, you are going to have high rates of gestational diabetes."
"Babies born to those women tend to be much bigger and are more prone to worse outcomes at birth."
She added, "But what we know little about is the long-term impact for these babies,". "A "handful" of studies in humans pointed to problems later on with obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease."
Thompson also explained that the issue of gestational diabetes in pregnant women is a problem not to be taken lightly. However, there is no conclusive evidence present in the matter due to lack of investigation. In her study, Dr. Thompson studied lab mice for gestational diabetes and believes that that it can affect the offspring when they are still inside the mother's womb.
"I think that the mother's health during pregnancy or her lifestyle during pregnancy or the fact that she had gestational diabetes during pregnancy may be a big influence. We can change the mother's health during pregnancy. It is something that we can modulate and we can target as a preventative measure." She concluded.
