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Gestational diabetes - that is, diabetes during pregnancy - increases the woman's risk of full-blown diabetes later in life, and it isn't good for the baby. Gestational diabetes is when a woman has trouble handling sugar, first recognised during pregnancy. Diabetes during pregnancy carries a risk of full-blown diabetes later in life for the woman, and it isn't good for the baby. The complications for the baby include large size, needing a caesarean section, having high insulin levels, and potentially brain-damaging low blood sugars after birth. Gestational diabetes is diagnosed when a woman's fasting blood sugar or sugar levels after a standard glucose drink tip over a certain level. But what happens to women who have sugars which are high but not enough to be labelled diabetes? A huge study has tested the sugar handling of 23,000 pregnant women, then followed them through to delivery. They couldn't find any cut-off. So the higher the sugar level, the more likely was the baby to have a high birth weight and raised insulin levels. Luckily, the risk of hypoglycaemia in the baby was not significantly increased below the diabetes threshold. So now the debate begins about the extent to which women with high sugar levels and their babies will benefit from treatment during pregnancy. An Australian trial suggests there are some benefits, but the point at which treatment become pointless is not known.
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