Key Components of Care for Women With Gestational Diabetes

Abstract

Nutrition practice guidelines for diabetes provide direction to professionals on the best way to practice clinical care and achieve improved blood glucose control. Nutrition practice guidelines have been available since 1995 for type 2 diabetes1 and since 1996 for type 1 diabetes.2 Medical nutrition therapy (MNT) for diabetes has been proven to lower HbA1c concentrations ∼1–2% and is crucial to effective care.1,2 MNT is recommended for the management of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and it is often the only diabetes treatment offered to women with this condition. Unfortunately, few research studies have been devoted to the nutrition issues involved in the care of GDM. Without adequate research data, there has been no consensus on the nature and definition of MNT for patients with GDM. This has resulted in: These concerns led the Diabetes Care and Education and the Women and Reproductive Nutrition practice groups of the American Dietetic Association to collaborate on the development of practice guidelines for GDM (Table 1). These guidelines seek to define the level and nature of MNT that has been shown to promote normoglycemia, provide optimum nutrition, and reduce complications in GDM. Those developing the guidelines agreed on the following assumptions.