Nutritional supplement helps prevent gestational diabetes

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 by: Sandeep Godiyal
Tags: gestational diabetes, myo-inositol, supplement

(NaturalNews) Pregnant women are more prone to develop glucose intolerance, also known as gestational diabetes. This is the main reason why pregnant women are encouraged to keep a healthy weight by maintaining proper diet and performing regular exercise. During this time, the woman's body undergoes a change in terms of using insulin, which is why maintaining a good level of blood sugar is encouraged among pregnant women. Along with these practices, there is a certain kind of natural supplement which has also been found and proven to help prevent gestational diabetes. It is called myo-inositol.

What's the proof?

There have been previous claims and studies that link inositol supplements with fertility restoration. But recently, the results of a study linking it to gestational diabetes have been released. The research was led by Dr. Rosario D'Anna from the Department of Obstetrics at the University Hospital of Messina.

The study included 220 pregnant women who are particularly prone to the health condition because of their family history in Type II diabetes. The first 110 subjects were administered myo-inositol supplements of two grams each, taken two times a day. Along with the supplement, they have were given a good amount of folic acid. The other 110 subjects were given nothing else but the recommended dosage of folic acid.

Of the 110 pregnant women who took the supplement along with folic acid, there were only about six percent of them who ended up developing gestational diabetes. This is compared to the 15 percent of the other half of the subjects who were only given a folic acid dosage.

What do these findings mean?

Quite admittedly, experts recognize the potentials of myo-inositol in helping pregnant women avoid being another case of gestational diabetes. However, experts also recognize that further research needs to be conducted to find out if this is safe.

Dr. Wanda Nicholson, an expert in gestational diabetes from the University of North Carolina, admits that there is a need for a bigger trial with a much broader subject to determine whether this supplement in question is worth expert recommendation.

This certainly is a good start. Myo-inositol shows a good sign that can lead to more studies and proven results in fighting off and protecting pregnant women from the risk of gestational diabetes. It may only be a matter of time and a few more efforts from the experts to prove and bind the link between this supplement and gestational diabetes prevention.

Until such time; however, pregnant women are still highly encouraged to be mindful about their diet and comply with the recommended exercise. With things working out well for the myo-inositol supplement, pregnant women may get much needed help in boosting their protection from the condition.

Sources for this article include:

http://pregnant.thebump.com
http://www.reuters.com
http://www.newsmaxhealth.com

About the author:
Sandeep has written many health field articles for both Internet and print publication. He currently writing for insurancetips4u.co.

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