Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may raise risk of gestational diabetes: Study

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 5 2011

A new study has shown that there is a connection between low Vitamin D levels and gestational diabetes. Vitamin D is one of the important vitamins during pregnancy. The researchers recommend that a pregnant woman should regularly get test done to check for vitamin D deficiency.

For the study the team looked at 147 women all of them were from the gestational diabetes clinic at Westmead Hospital. The result of the research has shown that 41% women had the deficiency of Vitamin D.

Vitamin D can be produced by the skin in the sun A person can also consume fatty fish, eggs, meat, milk and margarine to solve the problem of vitamin D deficiency. The pregnant women should be extra cautious about the deficiency of vitamin D. This deficiency can even cause serious problems for the future bone health of their child. Gestational diabetes in women also puts them at higher risk of pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia and caesarean section, as well as raising their risk of developing type-2 diabetes later on.

The research was led by Dr Sue Lynn Lau and Dr Jenny Gunton from Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research with Dr Neil Athayde and Professor Wah Cheung from the Westmead hospital. The researchers noticed that the women with the worst blood sugar control were also those with the lowest vitamin D levels. The findings are published in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Jenny Gunton said the findings, “appear to suggest that boosting vitamin D in pregnant women…could potentially reduce the complications of diabetes in pregnancy like caesarean sections, babies that are born too big and babies that have low blood sugars….Low vitamin D levels in mothers are known to correspond with low vitamin D levels in their babies -- and we've been seeing a resurgence of rickets in Australian children.” Dr. Gunton, an endocrinologist added, “There are lots of population studies showing that the lower your vitamin D, the higher your risk of developing diabetes.”