Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements Enhance Metabolic Profile of Women with Gestational Diabetes

Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes can boost their metabolic profile by taking calcium and vitamin D supplements.

Gestational diabetes mellitus refers to a pregnancy complication in which women develop diabetes during pregnancy. The pregnant woman's body fails to make sufficient insulin. Nearly 7 percent of all pregnancies in the U.S. are affected by gestational diabetes that is characterized by carbohydrate intolerance and metabolic disorders. Worldwide, the occurrence ranges from 1-14 percent depending on the population as well as the diagnostic criteria used.

Gestational diabetes increases the risk of pre-term delivery, pre-eclampsia and C-section.  The new study, led by Dr Ahmad Esmaillzadeh at the Isfahan University, Iran, found that intake of calcium and vitamin D supplements helps improve the metabolic profile of pregnant women with gestational diabetes.

"We are aware of no study that has examined the effect of joint calcium-vitamin D supplementation on insulin function, lipid profiles, inflammatory factors and biomarkers of oxidative stress in GDM," say the authors. "The current study was, therefore, done to investigate the effects of calcium plus vitamin D supplementation on metabolic status of pregnant women with GDM."

In a randomized placebo controlled trial on 56 women with GDM, the researchers randomly assigned the subjects either calcium plus vitamin D supplements or a placebo.  Those in the calcium-vitamin group were given 1000 mg calcium every day and 50000 IU vitamin D3 tablets during the study. Those in the placebo group were given two placebos at the same time.

Apart from this, the researchers also collected fasting samples at baseline and after 6 weeks of intervention.

The researchers noticed that subjects taking calcium-vitamin D supplements noticed a drop in fasting plasma glucose, insulin, and LDL or bad cholesterol and there was an improvement in insulin sensitivity and also increase in good cholesterol called HDL.

The authors say: "Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation in GDM women had beneficial effects on metabolic profile...this is important because elevated circulating levels of inflammatory markers and impaired insulin metabolism in GDM can predict the progression to type 2 diabetes (T2D) later in life and neonatal complications. Impaired insulin metabolism in women with GDM can result in adverse long term maternal outcomes and increased perinatal morbidity (babies large for gestational age, birth trauma, pre-eclampsia), and long-term consequences in the offspring. In addition, increased inflammatory markers in GDM might predict the future development of both metabolic and cardiovascular disease."

The finding was documented in Diabetologia.