During pregnancy, both maternal adiposity and the
insulin-desensitizing effects of placental hormones lead to
progressive insulin resistance which begins near midpregnancy
and increases further during the third trimester.
To maintain euglycemia, the pancreas compensates by secreting increased amounts of insulin. Thus, insulin resistance
during pregnancy reveals limitations in insulin secretion
and identifies a cohort of relatively young women
with significant a defect in pancreatic beta cell function
[24], and pregnancy has indeed hence been referred to
as the metabolic window into the subsequent metabolic
health in women.