Gestational diabetes: Only during pregnancy
Posted on June 19th, 2009 in Uncategorized
It is called gestational diabetes and is a type of diabetes that only occurs in pregnancy. And because there is risk to the mother and the baby must be daily monitoring of blood sugar levels.
The mechanism of gestational diabetes is similar to other types of diabetes: it is about how the body USA sugar (glucose), our main energy source.
Everything is happening at the level of digestion, during which carbohydrates provided by the food molecules are broken down into sugar. One is glucose, which is absorbed by the blood but needs help to penetrate the cells – is the insulin, hormone produced by the pancreas, to unlock this entry. A person with diabetes this does not work properly and the result is high levels of glucose in the blood.
This is the case also with gestational diabetes. During pregnancy the placenta produces hormones that will sustain the development of the fetus, but these hormones make the cells more resistant to insulin. And as the pregnancy progresses and the placenta grows, the greater the production of these hormones and, consequently, greater insulin resistance.
Normally, the pancreas reacts and increases the production of insulin to overcome this resistance. But it is not always able to respond effectively, which means that little glucose reaches the cells and which circulates in the blood too. Thus the gestational diabetes, which often develops in the second trimester of pregnancy.
And is most likely in women with a history of diabetes or close relatives who have had gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy. Women with overweight or obese also are at greater risk, as are those over the age of 25 years.
Leave a Comment