Katharina Buczek
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Turku in Finland has found that mothers who developed prediabetes following pregnancy already had abnormalities within their blood serum metabolomic profile from early pregnancy.
In fact, the team found that these women specifically had higher concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles– which remove cholesterol and fats from cells before transporting them to the liver for re-utilization or excretion.
During pregnancy, women’s metabolism undergoes many changes to ensure the growth of their babies.
But, aberrations in metabolism during pregnancy were already discovered among women who developed gestational diabetes.
And being that gestational diabetes is a key risk factor for type 2 diabetes, the research team was eager to determine whether it was possible to figure out what women are at an increased risk of type 2 diabetes using their metabolism amid pregnancy.
So, the researchers conducted a mother-child study at Turku University Hospital and the University of Turku in Finland.
They collected blood samples from the mothers during both early and late pregnancy to analyze their metabolic profiles.
The team was able to measure the mothers’ serum metabolic profiles using a technique that recognizes over 200 metabolites as well as their ratios.
Afterward, the researchers also evaluated each mother’s postpartum insulin resistance and fasting blood glucose using traditional laboratory tests.
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