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Glucose is a form of sugar that is present in many foods, including sweets, potatoes, pasta, and breads. The body uses glucose to provide energy. It is stored in the liver, muscles, and fatty tissue. The pancreas produces a hormone (a chemical produced in one part of the body, which travels to another part of the body in order to exert its effect) called insulin. Insulin is required to allow glucose to enter the liver, muscles, and fatty tissues, thus reducing the amount of glucose in the blood. In diabetes, blood levels of glucose remain abnormally high. In many forms of diabetes, this is because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin.

In gestational diabetes, the pancreas is not at fault. Instead, the problem is in the placenta. During pregnancy, the placenta provides the baby with nourishment. It also produces a number of hormones that interfere with the body’s usual response to insulin. This condition is referred to as “insulin resistance.” Most pregnant women do not suffer from gestational diabetes, because the pancreas works to produce extra quantities of insulin in order to compensate for insulin resistance. However, when a woman’s pancreas cannot produce enough extra insulin, blood levels of glucose stay abnormally high, and the woman is considered to have gestational diabetes.

Causes Of Gestational Diabetes

1.Have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
2.Are overweight or obese
3.Have previously given birth to a large baby, weighing over 4.5kg (9lb)
4.Have a family history of gestational diabetes (ie your mother, grandmother or sister had it)

Women whose families originate from certain areas are also at a higher risk. These include women from South Asia (specifically India, Pakistan or Bangladesh), the Middle East (specifically Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon or Egypt) and black Caribbean women.

Almost all women have some degree of impaired glucose intolerance as a result of hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy. That means that their blood sugar may be higher than normal, but not high enough to have diabetes. During the later part of pregnancy (the third trimester), these hormonal changes place pregnant woman at risk for gestational diabetes.

During pregnancy, increased levels of certain hormones made in the placenta (the organ that connects the baby by the umbilical cord to the uterus) help shift nutrients from the mother to the developing fetus. Other hormones are produced by the placenta to help prevent the mother from developing low blood sugar. They work by stopping the actions of insulin.

Over the course of the pregnancy, these hormones lead to progressive impaired glucose intolerance (higher blood sugar levels). To try to decrease blood sugar levels, the body makes more insulin to get glucose into cells to be used for energy.

Usually the mother’s pancreas is able to produce more insulin (about three times the normal amount) to overcome the effect of the pregnancy hormones on blood sugar levels. If, however, the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to overcome the effect of the increased hormones during pregnancy, blood sugar levels will rise, resulting in gestational diabetes.

During pregnancy, the placenta that surrounds your growing baby produces high levels of a variety of hormones. Almost all of them impair the action of insulin in the tissues, thereby raising blood sugar. Modest elevation of blood sugar after meals is normal during pregnancy.

As your baby grows, the placenta produces more and more insulin-interfering hormones. In gestational diabetes, the placental hormones provoke a rise in blood sugar to a level that can affect the growth and development of your baby. Gestational diabetes usually develops during the last half of pregnancy — rarely as early as the 20th week, but often not until later in the pregnancy.