According to the Preeclampsia Foundation, there are approximately 10,500 infants in the United States and about half a million worldwide die due to preeclampsia every year. Previous reports said that stillbirths are more likely to occur when the mother has a more severe form of preeclampsia.
This condition raises the risk of some long-term health issues related to preterm birth, as well as learning disorders, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, deafness and blindness. Infants who experienced poor growth in the uterus are believed to be potentially prone to certain risks such as diabetes, congestive heart failure and hypertension -- putting the optimum well-being of the child generally at risk.
With their invaluable efforts to support and initiate actions in addressing these issues, U.S. researchers recently have revealed their findings that eating potatoes regularly could put women at risk of gestational diabetes, compared to women who had none. The study found out that women who ate more than 5 portions of potatoes a week had a 50% increase risk.
The findings that were published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) linked potato-rich diet to a higher chances of gestational diabetes risk. Cuilin Zhang, lead study author, from the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, US, said the findings play a very important role as women who have gestational diabetes during pregnancy could mean they "develop preeclampsia" and "hypertension" and if the condition was left untreated, it can cause further complications.
The findings were based on results from over 21,000 pregnancies and around 854 of them were affected by gestational diabetes. Hence, researchers looked on the possible risk factors, including overall diet, possible history of diabetes, age and obesity. Every four years for over 10-year period of research (1991 to 2001), participants were asked to provide all the necessary information, including on how often they eat potatoes. And the results showed that those women who ate more baked potatoes, mashed or chips are at a higher risk of gestational diabetes-- which only occur during pregnancy.
The researchers also discovered that the risk could be lower by 9-12% if women swap their potato diet with whole grains or vegetables at least twice a week. However, U.K. experts reiterated there was no enough evidence to warn women about the consumption of potatoes.
"This study does not prove that eating potatoes before pregnancy will increase a woman's risk developing gestational diabetes, but it does highlight a potential association between the two," said Dr Emily Burns, of Diabetes U.K., as per BBC News. She also said that a further investigation needs to be carried out to know more about these results.
