Here’s a good new/bad news situation.  The bad news is that more women are likely to receive a diagnosis of  Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) in the coming months.   The good news is that if you’re in the trying to conceive process and eating a fertility-friendly diet like the one we use at Pulling Down the Moon you are well on your way to preventing this condition which can be dangerous to mother and baby. 

Previously, a diagnosis of GDM was based on blood sugar measurements that identified women at higher risk for developing diabetes later in life.  The new standards take into consideration risks to the mother and baby, including overweight babies, early delivery, c-section delivery and pre-eclampsia (a life threatening rise in blood pressure that endagers health of mom and baby).  When these outcomes were added to the equation, experts found they needed to make the diagnostic criteria more stringent.  With the new guidelines, it’s estimated 16% of pregnant women will be found to have GDM instead of the 4-6% who currently get diagnosed.

Just in case you needed a bit more motivation to either get started or keep going with your fertility-friendly diet, do it for diabetes prevention and the health of your future child!

A new study was published this week in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology which showed that acupuncture can help treat symptoms of depression in pregnant women.  In the study, depressed women were placed into three groups:

Groups underwent 12 treatments over an eight-week period of time and were then asked to take the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.  Results showed the severity of depression in the acupuncture specific group to be significantly lower than that in both of the control groups.   

This was encouraging news since we are often asked at Pulling Down the Moon what holistic therapies might be available to patients who become depressed during pregnancy or what patients can do if they do not want to take their anti-depressants while TTC or pregnant.  Understandably, many women are concerned about taking or starting medications during their pregnancy due to potential risk to their babies.  Interestingly, research has shown that women with depression tend to have a greater liklihood of developing postpartum depression and they are more likely to have babies with lower birth weights.  For these reasons, it is important to talk with both your doctor and your acupuncturist about integrating their care to make your treatment plan as seemless as possible. 

For information about the study, check out this Wall Street Journal Article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704454304575081753471294546.html