Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is the most common complication of pregnancy and has serious health consequences for both mother and child. Diet is an integral part of the management of GDM, but proper dietary treatment remains controversial and often fails. Understanding diet-taste relationships in women with GDM could improve the nutritional management of the disease. There is substantial evidence for taste changes in other forms of diabetes as well as for transient taste changes that occur during pregnancy. To date, taste changes in women with GDM remains an unexplored area. The objectives of this study are 1) to examine suprathreshold taste responsiveness, taste preferences and dietary variables in women recently diagnosed with GDM as compared to pregnant women without GDM and 2) to re- test these same women during the post-partum period presumably when symptoms of the disease have subsided. This will allow the documentation of taste changes associated with GDM that are distinct from those of normal pregnancy and to determine whether these changes persist after delivery. The pilot data collected in this project will provide the basis for subsequent proposal aimed at developing preventative and therapeutic dietary intervention strategies for GDM.
| Tepper, B J; Seldner, A C (1999) Sweet taste and intake of sweet foods in normal pregnancy and pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus. Am J Clin Nutr 70:277-84 |
