Pregnancy Outcomes Similar With Glycemic Index, Fiber Diets

Outcomes similar for women with gestational diabetes mellitus following low-GI or high-fiber diet

FRIDAY, Sept. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Following a low-glycemic index (LGI) diet or a conventional high-fiber moderate GI (HF) diet produces comparable pregnancy outcomes for women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), according to a study published online Sept. 6 in Diabetes Care.

Jimmy Chun Yu Louie, from the University of Sydney in Australia, and colleagues investigated the efficacy of LGI versus conventional HF diet on pregnancy outcomes, neonatal anthropometry, and maternal metabolic profile in 99 women (aged 26 to 42 years, with a mean pre-pregnancy body mass index of 24 kg/m²) diagnosed with GDM at 20 to 32 weeks' gestation. A total of 50 participants were randomized to receive LGI (target GI ~50), and 49 to receive a HF diet (target GI ~60). Pregnancy outcomes were obtained from medical records, and dietary intake from three-day food records.

The investigators found that the GI was modestly lower in the LGI group than the HF group (mean, 47 versus 53). The LGI and HF groups did not differ significantly in birth weight (mean, 3.3 and 3.3 kg, respectively), birth weight centile (mean, 52.5 and 52.2, respectively), and prevalence of macrosomia (mean, 2.1 and 6.7 percent, respectively), insulin treatment (mean, 53 and 65 percent, respectively), or adverse pregnancy outcomes at birth.

"We found that both an LGI diet and a conventional HF diet produced comparable pregnancy outcomes in women with GDM. Both groups achieved a relatively low GI diet and had mean birth weight, birth weight centile, and pregnancy weight gain within population norms," the authors write.

Glucose meters were provided for the study by Roche Diagnostics Australia.

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