Gestational Diabetes And Coffee: Can Coffee Reduce The Risk Of Gestational Diabetes?

As pregnant women, it is important to take extra care and concern. If you are diabetic, you must be more careful. Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy. As a result of this, your pregnancy is at risk for miscarriage, birth defects, stillbirths, premature births, and oversized babies.

Diabetes during pregnancy can be classified into two classes, Class A1 (which can be controlled solely through diet) and Class A2 (which requires insulin or oral medications to maintain control) [1].

The exact cause behind the development of the condition is unknown. However, it has been asserted that hormones play a major role in the development of the condition.

Getting regular physical activity and losing weight before becoming pregnant may help prevent gestational diabetes. Do not try to lose weight if you are already pregnant. To ensure the health of your baby, you must gain some weight, but not too quickly [2].

According to a recent study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, coffee consumption may lower the risk of T2D in people with a history of gestational diabetes. Coffee consumption appears to be associated with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes, especially when artificially sweetened beverages are substituted for coffee [3].

So, how does coffee help manage gestational diabetes?

Having uncontrolled diabetes during pregnancy can lead to several adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes, including excessive foetal growth, difficult delivery, birth injuries, and low blood sugar levels in the newborn [4].

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When a baby is born, blood sugar levels return to normal. However, women who were diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy are at a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the future.

Here are the important points from the study:

Point 1: In this study, researchers examined whether regular coffee consumption was associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes among female nurses in the United States with a history of gestational diabetes.

Point 2: According to the study, those who drank caffeinated coffee were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Point 3: In addition, switching out one cup of sugar-sweetened beverage with coffee a day resulted in a 17 per cent decrease in T2D risk, while swapping out one cup of artificially sweetened beverage with coffee resulted in a 9 per cent decrease in risk.

Point 4: Although this study proposes an interesting biological basis for the role of coffee in glucose metabolism, the study does not seek to quantify the impact of coffee intake on the development of diabetes.

Point 5: And most importantly, given the limitations of both the study design and the scope of its findings, it is imperative that more study be conducted before any recommendations can be made regarding coffee consumption as an intervention to reduce diabetes risk in the future.

On A Final Note...

Diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes) is often associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes at a later age. In these high risk women, coffee consumption (two to five cups per day, without sugar or whole-fat [or] high-fat dairy) was associated with lower type 2 diabetes risk when consumed properly (2-5 cups per day).

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes was also significantly reduced when sugary drinks were replaced with coffee. Coffee consumption in the local context is associated with major health outcomes, but more research is needed.