Preventing pregnancy diabetes

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

A baby born to a mother who has pregnancy-related diabetes is more likely to be unusually large and to have birth defects. But a study indicates mothers who practice four healthy living habits before pregnancy can reduce their risk of getting the condition, known as gestational diabetes.

Researchers saw this in data on more than 14,000 women between 1989 and 2001. The healthy habits: Maintaining a healthy weight, having a healthy diet, staying physically active, and not smoking.

At the National Institutes of Health, researcher Cuilin Zhang:

“Women at low risk for all these four factors had a more than 80 percent lower risk than those without any of these low-risk factors.”

The study was in the British Medical Journal.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.