Eating a nutritious diet is generally good for overall health, there's no denying that!
Women who developed gestational diabetes during their pregnancy, were at a lower risk of developing hypertension and high blood pressure later in life, if they adopted healthy eating habits, according to researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Approximately 5 percent of American women who are pregnant develop gestational diabetes, even though they have never had a case of diabetes before. For most pregnancy-related diabetic women, the blood sugar levels return to normal post-delivery. However, it has been noted that years later, these women tend to be at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
"While the majority of these women's glucose levels will return to normal after delivery, our study should serve as an early warning signal." said Cuilin Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., study's senior author and senior investigator in the Epidemiology Branch of NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
The study took into account more than 3,800 women who had a history of gestational diabetes. They were followed-up over a period of 22 years, from the year 1989 to 2011. Their health histories, food habits and dietary intakes were keenly investigated.
Further, every four years the participants were required to fill out a questionnaire with regards to their food habits. Based on their responses, the women were classified into one of the three dietary approaches, namely the Mediterranean diet, Alternative Healthy Eating Index and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH).
All three diets have a commendable health quotient and stress on consuming fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains, legumes and fish, but less of red meat, processed meat, salt and sugar.
Other important lifestyle factors such as weight, smoking habit, alcohol consumption, physical activity/exercise, ethnicity, oral contraceptive usage and family history were also taken into account for the evaluation.
Interestingly, the results of the study show that women who adhered to a healthy diet were remarkably 20 percent less likely to develop hypertension than those who did not follow one.
"Our study suggests that women who have had gestational diabetes may indeed benefit from a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains and low in red and processed meats." said Zhang.
In January 2016, Zhang and her colleagues linked the consumption of potatoes before pregnancy, to the development of gestational diabetes thereafter. The risk of diabetes rose proportionately to the amount of potatoes devoured, albeit a vegetable. Not all vegetables are healthy, Zhang had claimed.
The results of the study were published in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension on April 18.
Photo: Sara Neff | Flickr
