Higher potato consumption during pregnancy could be associated with a risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy or gestational diabetes, concludes a study published in "British Medical Journal."
The researchers suggest that the replacement of potatoes with other vegetables, legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils), or comprehensive food can reduce the risk.
Potatoes are one of the most consumed foods in the world.Although in some countries their consumption is recommended, previous studies suggest may have a detrimental effect on blood sugar due to their high starch content.
As for gestational diabetes, it is a common complication of pregnancy that causes high levels of sugar in the mother's blood and can lead to future health problems for the mother and child.
Previous studies have related food to a high glycemic index, a measure of the ability to raise blood sugar levels, a greater risk of gestational diabetes or type 2, but even this work, the effect of potatoes was unknown, a common food with a high glycemic index, in the development of gestational diabetes.
So the researchers from the National Institute of Children and Human Health Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Harvard University (USA) reviewed the data of 15,632 women who were part of the Nurses Health Study II study and who had become pregnant during 1991-2001.None of them had previous gestational diabetes or chronic disease before pregnancy.
Questionnaire
Every four years, women filled a questionnaire about the types of foods they had eaten during the previous year.In the case of the potatoes, pregnant women had asked them if they had consumed them in the oven, boiled or in mashed potatoes or as chips or 'chips', with possible answers that came from "never" to "six or more times to theday".
The researchers found that women who ate more potatoes had a greater risk of gestational diabetes.Replacing two portions of potatoes per week with other vegetables, legumes or integral cereals were significantly associated with 9, 10 and 12% less risk of developing gestational diabetes.
After taking into account other risk factors for gestational diabetes, such as age, family history of diabetes, physical activity, the general quality of the diet, and the BMI, found that greater total consumption of the potatoes was associatedsignificantly with a higher risk of gestational diabetes.
Less risk
However, the replacement of two portions of potatoes a week with other vegetables, legumes or integral cereals was significantly associated with a 9.12% lower risk.
However, the authors warn that because their study was not designed to prove the cause and effect, their results do not conclude that potato consumption leads directly to gestational diabetes.Scientists add that their findings should be confirmed in other research.