Potato consumption ‘could increase pregnant women’s risk of diabetes’

Women who eat a higher quantity of potatoes before pregnancy may experience higher rates of gestational diabetes, according to a new study.

Research from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Harvard University evaluated the records of more than 15,000 women between 1991 and 2001 to see what kinds of foods they had eaten during the previous year.

It was found that women who ate more potatoes had a higher risk of gestational diabetes, the form of the disease that occurs during pregnancy.

Moreover, this gestational diabetes risk was reduced by nine percent by substituting other vegetables for two servings of potatoes per week, rising to ten percent when swapping in legumes or 12 percent for whole grain foods.

Previous studies have linked foods with a high glycaemic index to a higher risk of gestational or type 2 diabetes, though this is the first to indicate a potentially negative impact for potatoes, a common high-glycaemic food.

However, the researchers were keen to note that the study was not designed to prove causality, meaning the results do not prove conclusively that potato consumption directly leads to gestational diabetes.