Vegetable intake during pregnancy may prevent diabetes in unborn child

USA Today reports that, according to experts, an increasing number of children are being diagnosed with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. According to Ed Kraus, an associate professor at Chicago Kent Law School who works with the American Diabetes Association (ADA), many schools are...falling short in coping with these students, particularly since 30% of schools have a part-time nurse, and 25% have no nurse.

Now, the ADA has a Safe at School Campaign to help families and schools create support plans, useful because everyone from cafeteria workers and bus drivers to gym teachers and the principal should know about a child's medical condition and what to do in case of an emergency, endocrinologist Frederick Schwenk, MD, says.

Diabetes risk in children may be linked to mothers' vegetable intake during pregnancy. HealthDay reported that, according to a study published online in the journal Pediatric Diabetes, children born to mothers who ate plenty of vegetables during pregnancy are less likely to have type 1 diabetes.

This is the first study to show a link between vegetable intake during pregnancy and the risk of the child subsequently developing type 1 diabetes, but more studies of various kinds will be needed before we can say anything definitive,” says study author and clinical nutritionist Hilde Brekke from the Sahlgrenska Academy

Swedish researchers studied 6,000 five-year-olds and found that three percent either had fully developed type 1 diabetes or had elevated levels of antibodies that indicate a risk of developing the disease. The investigators found that the risk was twice as high in children whose mothers rarely ate vegetables during pregnancy, and was lowest among children whose mothers ate vegetables every day of their pregnancy.

Posted in: Diabetes mellitus