Tuesday, February 10, 2009

What causes gestational diabetes?

Your body changes most of the food you eat into glucose, a form of sugar your body's cells need for energy. Insulin is a hormone that helps glucose move from your blood into your cells.
In gestational diabetes, pregnancy hormones increase glucose levels to meet your baby's growth needs. When you eat, your blood glucose levels stay high for a longer period of time compared to when you weren't pregnant. Your body tries to produce more insulin to handle the added glucose you are producing, but it is still not enough. You have developed a problem called insulin resistance. The result is high blood glucose levels during pregnancy - or gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes occurs in about 7% of all pregnancies. As part of routine prenatal care, women usually have a blood test between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy to determine if their blood glucose levels are in the normal range. Those at high risk for gestational diabetes may have this test earlier in their pregnancy.
Managing high blood glucose levels is important to reduce you and your baby's risk for diabetes - related complications. Your healthcare provider and diabetes-care team will help you develop a diabetes treatment plan with the goal of keeping your glucose levels in the normal range.

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