Nutritional interventions for the reduction of gestational diabetes mellitus: a systematic review; Intervenciones nutricionales para la reducción de diabetes mellitus gestacional: una revisión sistemática

Abstract

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) represents a silent public health problem whose gradual growth in recent years has led health authorities to propose different prevention strategies, the effect of which is still controversial. The objective of this review is to systematize the scientific evidence published in the last four years, related to the effect of nutritional interventions for the reduction of GDM. Methods: The study consists of a systematic review, which exclusively included clinical trials published in the Pubmed database within the period 2019 - 2022. The search algorithm used was “(pregnan* OR gestation*) AND intervention AND (diet* OR nutrition) AND diabetes. The articles were grouped into two categories according to the type of intervention: those that provided nutritional counseling (60%; n=12) and those that administered diets or treatments (40%; n=8). Results: The highest degree of association was found in the case of the intervention with personalized education on diet, physical activity and weight control through messages on WeChat; while the MedDiet recommendations reached the largest number of studies with a significant effect. Conclusions: Nutritional interventions such as dietary advice, especially on the Mediterranean diet, have a more positive effect in reducing gestational diabetes mellitus. © 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.