The potato might seem like an innocuous vegetable, but women who are hoping to conceive have been warned that eating too many potatoes enhances the risk of diabetes during pregnancy, say US researchers.
This is might be possible as starch in spuds can trigger a razor-sharp rise in blood sugar level, they say. Their study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) tracked more than 21,000 pregnancies. But UK experts say proof is missing and lots of people need to eat more starchy foods for fiber, on top of fresh fruit and veg. The BMJ study significantly and positively linked high potato consumption to a higher diabetes risk. But, substitution with a couple of servings a week for other vegetables should offset this, say the authors.
Starchy foods (carbohydrates) such as potatoes should contribute about a third of the food people eat. Well, there is no benchmarked limit on how much carbohydrate people should consume each week, they added.
Pregnancy puts extra demands on the body and several women develop diabetes at this time. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), is a common complication during pregnancy usually goes away after the birth but can create long term health complications for both mother and the baby.
