Key Summary
- WHO issues new pregnancy guidelines for women with diabetes
- Recommends balanced diet, limited fats/sugars, and 150 mins weekly exercise
- Stresses personalised advice for safe, healthy pregnancies
The World Health Organisation (WHO) released its latest maternal and perinatal health guidelines to ensure the well-being of women during pregnancy, labour, childbirth and postnatal times.
The new guidelines also prioritises diabetic pregnant women as well.
It aims to help type 1 diabetes, type 2 or gestational diabetes patients during their pregnancy.
The guidelines provide advices on their diet, physical activity and weight management.
Healthy diet is one of the key elements discussed in the resource.
Carbohydrates from wholegrains, vegetables, fruits and pulses (legumes) are highly recommended.
Consuming at least 400 g of vegetables; 25 g of naturally occurring fibres is considered important.
However, the mothers-to-be are advised to keep total fat to about 30 per cent of your daily calories, choosing mostly healthy unsaturated fats, and limit saturated fat to under 10 per cent and trans fats to under 1 per cent of your daily calories.
Sugar must also be limited to less than 5 to 10 per cent of their daily intake.
Along with a balanced diet, physical activity throughout pregnancy is strongly suggested.
Pregnant women can indulge in in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity in a week.
They are also asked to practice muscle strengthening exercises and stretching as well.
Continuation of pre-pregnancy physical activity habits for women who, before pregnancy, were habitually engaged in vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or who were physically active is also recommended.
However, each woman is different and so is the advice they need, that makes individualisation of advice significant.
Pregnant women require personalised advices on diet, exercises and weight management based on their weight and/or glycaemic control.
They must approach a registered dietitians or exercise physiologists for this.
According to WHO, these practices ensures a safe motherhood for the mothers-to-be across the globe.
