The relationship between vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes
Introduction
In this article, we are going to talk about the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes. This is the concern of many pregnant mothers. Due to the urban lifestyle and living in apartments, most people are less exposed to sunlight. As you know, sunlight is a rich source of vitamin D that people can supply this vitamin in their body by being exposed to it.
The importance of this vitamin in the body is not hidden from anyone, especially women. Stay with us until the end of this article to provide you with useful information about the relationship between vitamin D and gestational diabetes.
The importance of vitamin D
Low vitamin D serum levels in pregnant women can be considered as an independent risk factor for gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that is diagnosed as high blood sugar during pregnancy. The cause is the hormones secreted by the placenta, which have anti-insulin effects, which are neutralized by the secretion of insulin by the mother’s pancreatic cells, but the amount of insulin secreted by susceptible people is not enough to compensate.
An abnormal increase in blood sugar during pregnancy can lead to maternal and fetal complications, so its prevention and control during pregnancy is essential.
Vitamin D is one of the steroid vitamins fat-soluble prohormones group, which can have a very positive effect on the body’s biological system. Also, this vitamin has a main and important function in the maintenance and stability of calcium and the health of the body’s skeletal system. This vitamin is essential for human health, especially bone health, through the regulation of bone metabolism, calcium and phosphate balance, muscle contraction, nerve conduction, and overall cell function. It is better for people who want to get pregnant to do preliminary tests under the supervision of their doctor. In this way, they will no longer have to worry about problems such as vitamin D deficiency.
Some foods such as fish, eggs, milk enriched with vitamin D, etc. are among the substances that can provide this substance in the body. In addition to all these things, sunlight itself is a rich source of vitamin D. Based on research, if people are exposed to sunlight for a few minutes a day, they can easily supply this substance in their body and no longer need to take pills and capsules.
Benefits of taking vitamin D during pregnancy
One of these benefits is reducing the risk of gestational diabetes. During pregnancy, expectant mothers must check nutrition and the level of vitamins and hormones in their body with special obsession. Testing to measure vitamin D levels during pregnancy should be done regularly and periodically. Lack of this vitamin can cause many problems for pregnant women. It would be better if people could understand their problems before a problem arises and only by conducting experiments like this, and try to fix it before potential risks occur. By conducting preliminary tests on 5,405 pregnant women, researchers found that people who consumed 2,000 units of vitamin D per day had a 55% lower risk of giving birth to premature babies than other pregnant women. Also, 65% of these women faced the risk of death of their babies less than those who took vitamin D.
Diabetes is dangerous for everyone and it is more dangerous for pregnant mothers.
In addition to causing diabetes, vitamin D deficiency can also increase blood pressure during pregnancy and have direct effects on the fetus and babies. So we can conclude that by doing a test to measure the level of vitamin D, problems caused by the lack of this vitamin in the body can be prevented to a large extent. Follow-up is always better than treatment. So how much better is it that before trying to get pregnant or even in the early months of pregnancy, people can make sure of their body’s health by doing a series of simple and routine tests.
Summary regarding vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes
In the above material, we tried to talk about the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes. These problems may seem simple, but if they become severe, they may lead to unfortunate events. The presence of this sufficient amount of vitamin D in the body can prevent premature birth, pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. It can also have positive effects on the brain development of babies. Babies whose mothers regularly use vitamin D and have a normal level of this substance in their bodies, have less problems such as asthma or autism. Unfortunately, according to global statistics, about one billion people in the whole world suffer from vitamin D deficiency.
People’s lifestyle can have many effects on the amount of vitamins in their body. Apart from pregnant mothers, other people should also regularly perform the necessary tests so that in case of deficiency of any substance and vitamin in their body, they can quickly find out about it and try to fix it.
Unfortunately, despite the invention of new medical and surgical treatment methods, many diseases have no symptoms or have minor symptoms in the early stages, and this makes the patient in these stages, which is a golden time, for the prevention and complete treatment of the disease to not visit the doctors. Often, going to the doctor late leads to an increase in the amount of life and financial injuries to the patients, and in most cases, the injuries caused to the patients are irreparable.
The importance of conducting check-up and periodical tests is clear and obvious to everyone, but considering the current busy life, taking time to attend laboratories, coordinating fasting time, receiving test results, and other things causes many people to be negligent in doing this. For the well-being of the dear customers, Payvand Clinical and Specialty laboratory is proud to perform all the checkups at home without the need for a person to be present in the laboratory.
It should be noted that the results of previous checkups should be kept, in many cases comparing the results of laboratory tests with the previous results helps doctors to diagnose diseases; Therefore, it is essential to keep and carry the results of previous tests when visiting the doctor. I hope that you have been able to obtain useful information related to this topic with the above content.
References:
- https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/127547-overview
- https://www.who.int/elena/titles/vitamind_supp_pregnancy/en/#:~:text=Vitamin%20D%20supplementation%20during%20pregnancy%20improves%20maternal%20vitamin%20D%20status,low%20birthweight%20and%20preterm%20birth.
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35830973/
- https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-022-04725-9
- https://www.cochrane.org/CD008873/PREG_vitamin-d-supplementation-beneficial-or-harmful-women-during-pregnancy