Favourable effects of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet on glucose tolerance and lipid profiles in gestational diabetes: a randomised clinical trial

Study answer

What this study found

The DASH eating pattern produced favorable short-term effects on glucose tolerance and lipid profiles versus the control diet. Plasma glucose was lower at 60 min (21•86 v. 20•45 mmol/l, P group = 0•02), 120 min (2 2•3 v. 0•2 mmol/l, P group = 0•001), and 180 min (2 1•7 v. 0•22 mmol/l, P group = 0•002), and HbA1c decreased (20•2 v. 0•05 %, P group = 0•001). Mean changes also favored DASH for total cholesterol (−20•42 v. 0•31 mmol/l, P group = 0•01), LDL-cholesterol (−20•47 v. 0•22 mmol/l, P group = 0•005), TAG (−20•17 v. 0•34 mmol/l, P group = 0•01), total:HDL-cholesterol ratio (2 0•6 [SD…

Study & population

This was a randomized clinical trial in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus in mid-pregnancy conducted in Kashan, Iran, at Kashan University of Medical Sciences.

Intervention

The active intervention was a DASH eating pattern for 4 weeks, emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy while limiting saturated fat, cholesterol, refined grains, sweets, and sodium to 2400 mg/day.

Key limitation

The trial was short at 4 weeks and single-center, which limits longer-term and broader generalizability.

View full study detailsView sourceOpen PDF

Original abstract