Health officials have issued fresh calls for would-be-moms to start living healthier lives not just for themselves, but for their babies, too.
The advice comes on the heels of a worrying rise in the number of pregnant women developing gestational diabetes. The Diabetes Centre saw nearly 100 women last year with the condition — more than double what they saw six years ago. If the trend continues, new resources will have to be found to cope with the problem.
Gestational diabetes develops when mothers can't produce enough insulin during pregnancy. High blood sugar levels are passed onto the baby, putting it and the mother at risk.
Debbie Jones, who co-ordinates the Diabetes Centre at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, said one in eight women develop gestational diabetes here. Immediate problems emerge when the baby becomes too fat for a regular delivery and has to be delivered through cesarian section.
There are a host of other problems, too. There's more chance the baby will be born with heart and respiratory defects and an increased risk the baby will develop type II diabetes or be overweight when it's older.
Mrs. Jones says women who want happy, healthy babies, have to start thinking about what they're doing to their bodies now.
She said: "We have got to try and get women to be healthy before they become pregnant —?they've got to get into prevention mode."
Kids needs to be more active
Education has to start from childhood. Mrs. Jones said: "We've got to start with kids in school. They have got to be more physically active. It's a difficult situation because schools say they've got to focus on the academic curriculum.
"In the U.K. they've been debating whether or not to extend the school day until 5pm to allow for physical exercise. Whenever it's mentioned though people are up in arms asking who is going to stay until that time?"
Changing our mindsets about diabetes means actively changing our lifestyles.
Mrs. Jones said: "Look at how many moms work. What do their kids do before and after school? They sit in front of the TV eating junk food."
If that way of life becomes ingrained throughout childhood and adolescence, it's going to be more difficult to change in adulthood. However, most women, at least among those who planned to get pregnant, are conscientious about what they have to do.
Mrs. Jones said: "We've done very well with our moms but what we're trying to avert is a bigger problem than what we've got."
It's been more than 10 years since the last epidemiology study into diabetes. The last one in 1995 found that 18 per cent of the population had diabetes. Mrs. Jones said it's time for another one, but at $300,000 a pop, who is going to pay for it?
Some say diabetes is the world's biggest epidemic, even bigger than AIDS, with one person dying every three seconds. The United Nations is drawing up a resolution, which should help to refocus efforts aimed at prevention, like removing soft drinks machines from schools.
Even then, though, it still boils down to personal responsibility —?like changing the types of food we eat. A UN resolution would "put meat on the bones," Mrs. Jones said because it would give governments a clear idea of their responsibilities.
Right now, the clinic is the best place for advice. Women who are referrred there by their GPs have their diets assessed and put on the right track.
Most times babies are born fit and healthy, but the risk of developing diabetes doesn't go away.
Where can you turn for help? For more information, contact the Diabetes Centre on 236 2345.
