Probiotics and dietary counselling contribute to glucose regulation during and after pregnancy: a randomised controlled trial

Randomized controlled trial in normoglycaemic pregnant women in early gestation recruited in Turku, Finland. Active-arm groups included 85 women in the diet/probiotics group and 86 in the diet/placebo group; all participants were Caucasian and had enrolled at less than 17 weeks' gestation.

Women in the active arm received oral probiotic capsules containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53 103) and Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12, 10^10 colony-forming units/day each. Supplementation started at the first study visit and continued until the end of exclusive breast-feeding; the active arm also received dietitian-led dietary counselling aimed at improving intake toward current recommendations, with emphasis on fat quality.

The combined dietary counselling plus probiotic intervention improved glucose regulation during pregnancy and after delivery. Baseline-adjusted glucose was lower with diet/probiotics than with diet/placebo and control/placebo in pregnancy (4.45, 4.60, and 4.56 mmol/L; P=0.025) and postpartum (4.87, 5.01, and 5.02 mmol/L; P=0.025). The intervention also reduced the odds of elevated glucose concentration during pregnancy (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.12, 0.78; P=0.013). Overall, the authors concluded that dietary counselling with probiotics can improve glucose control in a healthy pregnant population and may help prevent glucose disorders.

The active intervention was tested in a relatively small, specific population of healthy Caucasian pregnant women from one region in Finland, which limits generalizability. The regimen combined probiotics with dietary counselling, so the independent contribution of the supplement is less certain. Some outcome reporting in the source excerpt is incomplete, and several postpartum measures are not fully shown.