Calcium and vitamin D supplements enhance metabolism in women with gestational diabetes, a new research shows.
Iranian researchers conducted a randomized placebo controlled trial on 56 women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a pregnancy complication characterised by carbohydrate intolerance and metabolic disorders.
The researchers randomly assigned the participants either calcium plus vitamin D supplements or a placebo. Subjects in the calcium-vitamin group were given 1000 mg calcium every day and 50000 IU vitamin D3 tablets during the study. The control group participants were given two placebos at the same time.
The research team also collected fasting samples at baseline and after 6 weeks of intervention.
The study findings revealed that those in calcium-vitamin D group had reduced levels of fasting plasma glucose, insulin, and LDL or bad cholesterol. Their insulin sensitivity improved and they also reported an increase in good cholesterol level called HDL.
"We are aware of no study that has examined the effect of joint calcium-vitamin D supplementation on insulin function, lipid profiles, inflammatory factors and biomarkers of oxidative stress in GDM," researchers at Isfahan University, Iran, said in a press release.
"The current study was, therefore, done to investigate the effects of calcium plus vitamin D supplementation on metabolic status of pregnant women with GDM."
According to the researchers, calcium and vitamin D supplementation in GDM women had beneficial effects on metabolic profile. "Impaired insulin metabolism in women with GDM can result in adverse long term maternal outcomes and increased perinatal morbidity (babies large for gestational age, birth trauma, pre-eclampsia), and long-term consequences in the offspring. In addition, increased inflammatory markers in GDM might predict the future development of both metabolic and cardiovascular disease," researchers wrote.
A recent report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that one in 10 pregnant women in America develops gestational diabetes.
The study was published in the journal 'Diabetologia'.
