One Thing You Can Do To Avoid Gestational Diabetes Q. I am
pregnant and am wondering how likely it is that I will get
diabetes. Is there anything I can do to avoid it? A. Diabetes is
a disease in which the body can't properly absorb the glucose
(sugar) from foods. Cells -- especially brain neurons and red
blood cells -- need this glucose to function properly..
Normally, the hormone insulin helps to shuttle glucose into
cells that can use it. But when a person has diabetes, this
action is impaired. Either they don't make any, or enough,
insulin, or the cells have problems that impair their ability to
use the glucose. One type of diabetes occurs for the first time
in women who are pregnant. Most women with some risk of
developing the condition are screened during their 24th and 28th
weeks of pregnancy. Around five percent of all pregnant women
develop gestational diabetes, according to the National
Institutes of Health. You are at some risk if you have at least
one of the following factors: - You are Hispanic,