Eating Potatoes, Chips May Trigger Pregnancy Diabetes

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Pregnant women should beware of their chips and potato consumption be it baked, boiled, mashed or fried. A new study suggested that this food could lead to gestational diabetes.

According to UPI, eating potatoes or chips more than five times a week could increase one's risk for developing gestational diabetes by 50 percent. Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy and is linked to consuming food with a high glycemic index and ability to raise blood sugar levels.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that about 9.2 percent of pregnant women develop the condition, which is often diagnosed around the 24th week of pregnancy.

"The more women consumed potatoes, the greater risk they had for gestational diabetes," said Dr. Cuilin Zhang, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, told HealthDay. She noted that potatoes are regarded as a kind of vegetable but stressed, "not all vegetables are healthy."

The researchers examined the health records of nearly 16,000 women who participated in the Nurses Health Study II between 1991 and 2001. All women involved in the study did not have gestational diabetes or chronic diseases prior to becoming pregnant. They were assessed on their potato and chip consumption every four years.

During the 10-year follow-up, 854 diabetes cases were reported among 21,693 pregnancies. After adjusting age, parity, weight and dietary factors, the researchers found that women who ate two to four 3.5-ounce servings per week of any type of potato had a 27 percent increased risk of developing gestational diabetes. On the other hand, women who ate more than five servings increased their risk by 50 percent.

Another thing was observed when potato servings were replaced with other vegetables. According to the report, the risk reduced by 9 to 12 percent in women who substituted two servings of potatoes per week with legumes or whole grains foods.

Zhang advised women who want to get pregnant to reduce their potato consumption and added, "What moms eat can potentially affect the health of their babies." Dr. Raul Artal, an obstetrician/gynecologist with the Saint Louis University School of Medicine agreed with Zhang. "Eat judiciously. It's OK to eat some potatoes, but not too many."

"This study does not prove that eating potatoes before pregnancy will increase a woman's risk developing gestational diabetes, but it does highlight a potential association between the two," Dr. Emily Burns, a researcher at Diabetes UK, told BBC. "However, as the researchers acknowledge, these results need to be investigated in a controlled trial setting before we can know more. What we do know is that women can significantly reduce their risk of developing gestational diabetes by managing their weight through eating a healthy, balanced diet and keeping active."

The study was published in the British Medical Journal.