Interventions to prevent women from developing gestational diabetes mellitus: an overview of Cochrane Reviews.

Study answer

What this study found

Overall, no preventive intervention showed clear benefit or harm across the included reviews. Among supplement strategies, myo-inositol reduced gestational diabetes risk in small trials (RR 0.43, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.64) and vitamin D also showed a possible benefit (RR 0.51, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.97), while omega-3 fatty acids showed no effect (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.26). Probiotics combined with dietary intervention were promising in single small comparisons (RR 0.37, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.89; RR 0.38, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.92), but the evidence base was limited. The authors concluded that more…

Study & population

Overview of Cochrane systematic reviews evaluating interventions to prevent gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant women.

Intervention

Pregnancy interventions included omega-3 fatty acids (0.22 to 2.8 g/day), myo-inositol (2 to 4 g/day), vitamin D alone or with calcium or other micronutrients (weekly total 1400 IU to 30,000 IU), and probiotics, generally started in mid-pregnancy and continued for the remainder of gestation when given.

Key limitation

The evidence was heterogeneous across interventions, populations, doses, and timing, and many findings came from small or single trials.

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Original abstract