Prospective study of pre-gravid sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus.
OBJECTIVE
Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) was related to an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance in several recent studies among middle- or older-aged populations. Studies on SSB consumption and glucose intolerance among pregnant women, however, are lacking. We therefore examined the association between regular SSB consumption before pregnancy and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).


METHODS
This was a prospective study among 13,475 U.S. women who reported at least one singleton pregnancy between 1992 and 2001 in the Nurses' Health Study II. GDM was self-reported and validated by medical record review in a subsample. Cox proportional hazards models with multivariate adjustments were applied to examine the association of SSB consumption with GDM risk.


RESULTS
During 10 years of follow-up, 860 incident GDM case subjects were identified. After adjustment for age, parity, race, physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, prepregnancy BMI, and Western dietary pattern, intake of sugar-sweetened cola was positively associated with the risk of GDM, whereas no significant association was found for other SSBs and diet beverages. Compared with women who consumed <1 serving/month, those who consumed >or=5 servings/week of sugar-sweetened cola had a 22% greater GDM risk (relative risk 1.22 [95% CI 1.01-1.47]).


CONCLUSIONS
Findings from this study suggest that prepregnancy higher consumption of sugar-sweetened cola (>or=5 servings/week) is associated with an elevated GDM risk, whereas no significant association with GDM risk was observed for other SSBs and diet beverages.
Chen
Liwei
L
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. lchen@lsuhsc.edu
Hu
Frank B
FB
Yeung
Edwina
E
Willett
Walter
W
Zhang
Cuilin
C
D001628:Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013395:Sucrose / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D013395:Sucrose