Is Cycling the Key to Preventing Gestational Diabetes?

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that affects pregnant women and puts both them and their children at risk of developing type 2 diabetes in later life. Diabetes is caused when there is too much glucose (sugar) in the blood. During pregnancy, women will naturally have higher levels of glucose and their body cannot produce enough insulin to process the glucose and turn it into cells.

In pregnancy, the condition is controlled through diet and exercise, although some women with particularly severe diabetes may need medication. Now an Australian research team is testing whether regular exercise can actually prevent gestational diabetes from re-occurring.

Once a woman has had gestational diabetes in one pregnancy, she is at a higher risk of developing it in subsequent pregnancies. Their babies are not only at risk of going on to develop type 2 diabetes but also of becoming obese

The Perth study involves 200 high-risk women taking part in a stationary cycling program run by the University of Western Australia’s School of Women’s and Infants’ Health and the School of Sports Science, Exercise and Health. The study follows previous research that identified stationary cycling as providing the maximum preventative benefit for high-risk women.

In the Cycle Study, the 200 participants are provided with a stationary bike for the home with a visit three times a week by a personal trainer who will supervise the training. Over a 14-week period, the research team will compare their rates of gestational diabetes with the rates of participants in a control group who are doing normal levels of physical activity.

The researchers will also measure the effect of this exercise on other health outcomes such as weight gain, mobility, sleep quality, fitness and psychological wellbeing.