Miami's fashion designer, Lisu Vega, has always been aware of health.He gets up at 5 a.m.And it remains active all day.Vega, 35, was in his second pregnancy when, at 24, he knew that he had gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes occurs when blood glucose levels, or blood sugar, are very high during pregnancy.While the change of hormones and gaining weight are part of a normal pregnancy, changes can sometimes lead to insulin resistance that raises glucose levels.
It is known that obesity can cause insulin resistance, says Ernesto Bernal-Mizrachi, director of the Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes Division in Uhealth-University of Miami Health System."During pregnancy, the hormones that have increased produce insulin resistance so the pancreas has to work more and produce more insulin."This can suppose problems for the mother and the child, both during pregnancy and later.
"The primary risk during pregnancy is hypertension and preeclampsia," says Anthony Lai, obstetric gynecologist specialist in fetal maternal medicine of South Miami Hospital Center for Women & AMP;Infants."It also increases the risk that a caesarean section has to be performed because the baby is usually larger."
Babies born from a mother suffering from gestational diabetes or is diabetic tend to be large, says Bernal-Mizrachi."This occurs because with diabetes high levels of glucose of women during pregnancy pass to the baby", which causes the baby's pancreas to produce more insulin, stimulating growth.
The children of gestational diabetic mothers have a greater risk of developing diabetes later in their life and are more prone to obesity.“It can be a genetic predisposition that passes to the baby.As with any patient susceptible to diabetes, they have to be alert to avoid obesity, ”he says.
Gestational diabetes also affects women as it could develop diabetes according to aging."One in four women who develop gestational diabetes will develop type 2 diabetes," says Bernal-Mizrachi.
Risk factors
Adrian Roznowski, Obstetra Gynecologist by Mount Sinai Medical Center and Vega's doctor explains that: “Family history is very important.If there are diabetes in your family you are at risk.The same occurs with the body mass index and weight ”.
Gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy also increases risk."If there are risk factors, diabetes test can be performed early in pregnancy, before 24 weeks," says Roznowski."A glucose test must also be done if the person is obese and if he has had gestational diabetes that was not evaluated after the last pregnancy."
Treatment
The fundamental thing is to modify the diet and lifestyle and above all, start exercising, says Lai."Four out of five patients with gestational diabetes will respond to a change in the diet," he says."Between ten and 20 percent will need other interventions such as medicines, including insulin."
One way to modify the diet is to control calorie intake.Another is changing the type of calories by reducing carbohydrates."It is better to eat small portions, an average of three meals and three snacks," says Lai."It seems a lot but when the amount of calories is reduced each meal is quite small."
Women are advised to maintain a diet, exercise and that weight gain is adequate, says Roznowski.
In general, you should not eat very little or much, adds Bernal-Mizrachi.
“Look for balanced nutrition.I don't eat much or little, ”says Bernal-Mizrachi."You must avoid excessive weight increase."
TheFood of a pregnant woman can have long-term effects, explains Bernal-Mizrachi.Using animal models, he studies how pregnancy nutrition can affect the child's future health."We find that changes in nutrition during pregnancy can produce permanent changes in genes that will affect the susceptibility to diabetes," he says.
It is recommended that if a woman had gestational diabetes tests for the detection of diabetes, between six and 12 weeks after the baby, says Lai.Normally this happens in the postpartum visit."Sometimes it happens that they may have had diabetes before pregnancy and not have been detected," he adds.
Maintaining weight under control can help reduce future risks."Obesity is a big problem, it is like a plague in the United States, and if the patient does not lose weight between pregnancies, then the risk of gestational diabetes in the following pregnancies is very high," he says."
When Vega was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, he visited a nutritionist to modify the diet.“One of the problems when you are Latin is that it ingests many carbohydrates.I love bread.I love pasta.I love rice, but I also like to eat healthy. ”So it began to eat smaller portions, lowered carbohydrates and sugar and combined carbohydrates with vegetables and protein.
In mid -November, at 36 weeks, he maintained his active lifestyle, continued working on the fashion study, exercised an hour a day and monitored glucose levels.
"I currently feel very healthy," he says.“We must prevent glucose levels from rising because it does not know what will happen.But if it controls that, everything will be fine. ”
