January 5, 2001
Gestational Diabetes
Question from Tenafly, New Jersey, USA:
I am 28 weeks pregnant with my second child. I did not have gestational diabetes with my first pregnancy. I just completed the one-hour GTT [glucose tolerance test] and my reading was 161 mg/dl [8.9 mmol/L]. My doctor wants me to do the three-hour GTT. Three days before the test I am supposed to eat a diet very high in simple carbohydrates (e.g., two tablespoons of sugar three times aday, plus six slices of white bread, four pieces of cake, and a candy bar per day). This seems counter-productive to me and unhealthy under any circumstances, let alone if I do in fact have gestational diabetes. Can I get an accurate result on the three- hour test without eating this diet beforehand?
Answer:
I agree that all those carbohydrates is not a healthy way to eat. However, this will get your insulin production up and should prevent a possible false positive result on the three-hour glucose test. In other words, without the carbohydrate loading when you suddenly take in 100 grams of glucose for the three-hour test, your body may not respond in an optimal manner, and the glucose results could be higher than normal. However, you may not actually have gestational diabetes. If you are in that situation, most likely you would end up only on a diet, not insulin.
OWJ
