Dietary protein in early pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study

Strict adherence to a plant-based diet may help fend off gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant women.

This study examined how the intake of a high protein diet influences a woman's risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus during pregnancy. Out of the 1,060 pregnant women who volunteered dietary information and underwent oral glucose tolerance test, a total of 279 of them were diagnosed with gestational diabetes during the course of the study. 

Researchers discovered that participants who get their proteins from plant foods had a low risk of acquiring gestational diabetes mellitus. In contrast, pregnant women who ate foods high in animal proteins demonstrated had high tendency to develop gestational diabetes. This study pointed out that high dietary ingestion of proteins from plant foods may protect women against gestational diabetes mellitus during pregnancy.