This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Higher dietary acid load increases gestational diabetes risk
Women who consume foods with a higher dietary acid load are more likely to develop gestational diabetes when compared with women who consume a lower dietary acid load, according to findings from a case-control study conducted in Iran.
Patients with diabetes typically have a lower urine PH and excrete larger amounts of urinary acid vs. those without diabetes, Sahar Saraf-Bank, MSc, a doctoral student with the Food Security Research Center at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan, Iran, and colleagues wrote in the study background. Based on observational studies, there are two scores that can calculate dietary acid load: the potential renal acid load and the protein/potassium ratio.
“The results of a longitudinal study demonstrated a 56% increment in risk for type 2 diabetes incidence among subjects who consumed a diet with the highest acid load over 14 years of follow-up,” the researchers wrote. “However, several observational studies have presented contradictory associations between metabolic acidosis and insulin resistance as a main feature of diabetes.”
Saraf-Bank and colleagues analyzed data from 263 healthy pregnant women and 200 pregnant women with gestational diabetes between 5 and 28 weeks’ gestation. Women completed 3-day dietary records to assess acid load, quantified by the potential renal acid load score and the protein/potassium ratio score. Researchers also measured serum levels of liver enzymes, lipids, fasting blood glucose and triglycerides. Participants were stratified into three groups based on tertiles of both potential renal acid load and the protein/potassium ratio scores. Researchers used logistic regression analysis to assess the relationship between potential renal acid load and protein/potassium ratio scores and gestational diabetes risk.
Across tertiles of both dietary acid load scores, researchers observed that fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol all increased, whereas diastolic blood pressure increased only across tertiles of the protein/potassium ratio score. Additionally, women in the top tertile of potential renal acid load and protein/potassium ratio scores were more likely to have gestational diabetes when compared with women in the first tertile of both scores, with a greater risk for women in the highest tertile of the potential renal acid load score (OR = 9.27; 95% CI, 4-21.46) than for women in the highest tertile of the protein/potassium ratio score (OR = 7.6; 95% CI, 3.43-16.84). Results persisted after adjustment for age, energy intake, number of children, socioeconomic status, disease history, medication use and BMI.
The researchers noted that dietary acid load “could be considered as a valuable method for predicting the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus and impaired glycemic indices among either at-risk or involved women with [gestational diabetes].” – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.