Newswise —
A team of scientists from the University of Turku in Finland uncovered that expectant mothers who developed prediabetes had anomalies present in their metabolic profile in their initial pregnancy blood sample. To be precise, they displayed elevated levels of tiny HDL particles in early pregnancy.
The metabolic processes of a mother undergo significant alterations during pregnancy, aimed at ensuring the proper development of the fetus. Previously, deviations in metabolism during pregnancy have been detected in women with gestational diabetes, a known precursor to type 2 diabetes. Hence, the researchers sought to investigate whether it was feasible to identify women with an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes based on their metabolic profile during pregnancy.
The University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland conducted a mother-child study to investigate the risk of type 2 diabetes in mothers. The study involved analyzing the serum metabolic profiles of mothers' blood samples, measuring over 200 metabolites and their ratios, in early and late pregnancy using a specialized method. Additionally, traditional laboratory tests were used to evaluate the mothers' fasting blood glucose and insulin resistance postpartum. The serum metabolic profiles during pregnancy were compared between women who developed prediabetes and those whose fasting glucose levels remained stable two years after delivery.
Doctoral Researcher Ella Muhli, from the Early Nutrition and Health research group at the University of Turku, explains that their findings indicated that a combination of metabolic profile in early pregnancy and clinical variables like age and pre-pregnancy body mass index could predict prediabetes at postpartum. They also found that elevated levels of small HDL particles in the bloodstream during early pregnancy were linked to higher fasting glucose and insulin resistance two years after delivery.
Muhli also notes that their study's results suggest that it may be possible to identify women at higher risk for type 2 diabetes in early pregnancy based on their serum metabolic profiles. However, they did not find similar associations in late pregnancy.
The higher concentration of the small HDL particles in circulation has been previously associated with the risk of cardiovascular diseases, in addition to the risk for type 2 diabetes.
The research results were published in the Metabolomics journal.
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