Probiotic yoghurt may prevent high blood sugar, gestational diabetes in obese pregnant women

Blood sugar may increase during pregnancy usually in the second or third trimester and may give rise to Gestational diabetes that usually disappears after giving birth to the child.

The consumption of probiotic yoghurt may be beneficial for the prevention of gestational hyperglycemia or high blood sugar in obese pregnant women, show results from a randomized clinical trial published in the European Journal of Nutrition. According to the study, the probiotics supplementation had a beneficial impact on glucose metabolism of overweight and obese pregnant women thereby preventing high blood sugar during pregnancy that could lead to gestational diabetes.

Gestational diabetes occurs in about 7 percent of all pregnancies. It usually arises in the second half of pregnancy and goes away as soon as the baby is born.There is only some evidence about the effectiveness of probiotics for the prevention of gestational hyperglycaemia.

Dr Hanieh Asgharian, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, and colleagues examined the effects of probiotic yoghurts on maternal blood sugar (primary outcome) and on some maternal and infant complications (secondary outcomes) in overweight and obese women with no diabetes in pregnancy. The probiotic yoghurt consisted of Lactobacillus acidophilus La5 and Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12.

In the study women with pre- or early-pregnancy BMI ≥ 25 and fasting blood sugar < 92 mg/dl at 22 weeks of gestation were assigned into probiotic or conventional yoghurt group, consuming 100 g/day from 24 weeks of gestation until delivery. The women and their infants were then followed for 1 month after birth.

In each group, one out of 65 women had intra-uterine foetal death and were not analysed for other outcomes. The mean BMI was 29.2 (SD 3.3) in probiotic and 30.3 (SD 4.1) in conventional yoghurt group.

Also Read: Consumption of Yogurt, cheese, and eggs may decrease risk of heart attack

Key findings include:

• Four weeks after initiation of the treatment, plasma glucose levels were significantly lower in the probiotic than in conventional yoghurt group at fasting (mean difference adjusted for the BMI category) and baseline FPG (− 4.0 mg/dl; 95% confidence interval − 6.9, − 1.1) and 2-h OGTT (− 13.9; − 22.8, − 5.0).


• At the 1-h OGTT ( oral glucose tolerance test), however, the difference was not statistically significant (− 9.8; − 20.6, 0.9).


• There was a significantly lower infant bilirubin level in the probiotic group on days 3–5 after birth (− 2.2 mg/dl; − 3.3, − 1.2).


• There were no statistically significant differences between the groups regarding the risk of gestational diabetes (6 vs 11), preterm delivery (3 vs 8; 0.3), and other maternal and infant outcomes.

Also Read: Higher blood sugar in early pregnancy raises risk of heart-defect in baby

"The probiotics supplementation seems to have some beneficial effect on the glucose metabolism of obese and overweight and obese pregnant women. Further studies are required to judge the clinical significance of such effects," concluded the authors.

To read the complete study log on to https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-019-01900-1