ABSTRACT
Purpose: Changes were examined in energy intakes and
percentage of energy from macronutrients in response to nutritional
intervention in women with gestational diabetes mellitus
(GDM).
Methods: The study included 17 women with GDM and 27
women with normal glucose tolerance (controls). Women
with GDM were followed by a multidisciplinary team; they
received dietary counselling by a registered dietitian, and were
prescribed diets with 40% to 45% energy from carbohydrate
(CHO), 20% to 25% from protein, and 30% to 35% from fat.
Dietary intakes were assessed with food frequency questionnaires
before the intervention (26.9 ± 3.8 weeks) and after the
intervention (32.6 ± 0.6 weeks).
Results: After the intervention, women with GDM reduced
their total energy intake to reach lower values than did controls
(P value for time-group interaction ≤0.05). A concomitant
reduction in total CHO and glucose intakes in women with
GDM led to significantly lower values compared with intakes
in controls (P values for time-group interaction ≤0.001 for all).
The post-intervention rate of weight gain in women with GDM
was within the Institute of Medicine (IOM)-recommended values,
while the post-intervention rate of weight gain in controls
was above IOM-recommended values (0.30 ± 0.27 versus
0.61 ± 0.50 kg/week, P≤0.05).
Conclusions: These results suggest that this multidisciplinary
medical and nutritional intervention was effective in the
achievement of prescribed macronutrient distribution and controlling
gestational weight gain in Canadian women with GDM.