Vegetables Protect Unborn Babies From Developing Diabetes

Friday Oct 30, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- New evidence is emerging on how important it is for pregnant women to eat good, nutritious food. Expectant mothers who eat vegetables every day seem to have children who are less likely to develop type 1 diabetes, a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy has revealed.

Researchers from Sahlgrenska Academy, in collaboration with Linköping University, conducted a population study called ABIS (All Babies in Southeast Sweden) and published the results in the journal Pediatric Diabetes.

"This is the first study to show a link between vegetable intake during pregnancy and the risk of the child subsequently developing type 1 diabetes, but more studies of various kinds will be needed before we can say anything definitive," said researcher and clinical nutritionist Hilde Brekke from the Sahlgrenska Academy.

For the study, the researchers analyzed blood samples from about 6,000 five-year old children, checking for antibodies which attack the insulin-producing cells.  Children with type 1 diabetes lack the ability to produce insulin.

Of the study subjects, three percent had either elevated levels of the antibodies or fully developed type 1 diabetes by the age of five.

Brekke and cllegaues found the risk markers were up to twice as common in children whose mothers rarely ate vegetables during pregnancy. The lowest risk was found in children whose mothers reported that they ate vegetables every day.

"We cannot say with certainty on the basis of this study that it's the vegetables themselves that have this protective effect, but other factors related to vegetable intake, such as the mother's standard of education, do not seem to explain the link," said Brekke.

"Nor can this protection be explained by other measured dietary factors or other known risk factors."

Vegetables, as defined in the study, are all vegetables except for root vegetables.

In the United States, about 13,000 children are diagnosed with type 1diabetes every year and more than one million U.S. kids and adults live with the disease.

By David Liu and editing by Rachel Stockton