Diabetes
Maternal health research
These studies look at the effects of breastfeeding on diabetes in mothers and the effects of early expression for babies born to diabetic mothers.
Lactation Duration and Long-term Risk for Incident Type 2 Diabetes in Women With a History of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
This study assessed the association of lactation duration with incident type 2 diabetes among women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM),concluding that longer duration of lactation is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and a favorable glucose metabolic biomarker profile among women with a history of GDM. The underlying mechanisms and impact on diabetes complications, morbidity, and mortality remain to be determined.
Lactation Duration and Progression to Diabetes in Women Across the Childbearing Years
This observational 30-year study found that increasing lactation duration was associated with a strong, graded relative reduction in the incidence of type-2 diabetes even after accounting for pre-pregnancy biochemical measures, clinical and demographic risk factors, gestational diabetes, lifestyle behaviors, and weight gain that prior studies did not address. The graded risk reduction ranged from 25% for 6 months or less to 47% for 6 or more months of lactation.
Advising women with diabetes in pregnancy to express breastmilk in late pregnancy (Diabetes and Antenatal Milk Expressing [DAME]): a multicentre, unblinded, randomised controlled trial
This Australian study examined the safety and efficacy of antenatal expressing in women with diabetes in pregnancy, using the proportion of infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as an outcome measure. The researchers found that the proportion of infants admitted to the NICU did not differ between those whose mothers had expressed breastmilk twice per day from 36 weeks’ gestation and those who hadn’t. They concluded that there is no harm in advising women with diabetes in pregnancy at low risk of complications to express breastmilk from 36 weeks’ gestation.