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Probiotics and Dietary Counselling Contribute to Glucose Regulation During and After Pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: Balanced glucose metabolism ensures optimal fetal growth with long-term health implications conferred on both mother and child. We examined whether supplementation of probiotics with dietary counselling affects glucose metabolism in normoglycaemic pregnant women.

METHOD: At the first trimester of pregnancy 256 women were randomised to receive nutrition counselling to modify dietary intake according to current recommendations or as controls; the dietary intervention group was further randomised to receive probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12; diet/probiotics) or placebo (diet/placebo) in a double-blind manner, whilst the control group received placebo (control/placebo).

RESULTS: Blood glucose concentrations were lowest in the diet/probiotics group during pregnancy (baseline-adjusted means 4.45, 4.60 and 4.56 mmol/l in diet/probiotics, diet/placebo and control/placebo, respectively; P = 0.025) and over the 12 months' postpartum period (baseline-adjusted means 4.87, 5.01 and 5.02 mmol/l; P = 0.025). Better glucose tolerance in the diet/probiotics group was confirmed by a reduced risk of elevated glucose concentration compared with the control/placebo group (OR 0.31 (95 % CI 0.12, 0.78); P = 0.013) as well as by the lowest insulin concentration (adjusted means 7.55, 9.32 and 9.27 mU/l; P = 0.032) and homeostasis model assessment (adjusted means 1.49, 1.90 and 1.88; P = 0.028) and the highest quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (adjusted means 0.37, 0.35 and 0.35; P = 0.028) during the last trimester of pregnancy. The effects observed extended over the 12-month postpartum period.

CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that improved blood glucose control can be achieved by dietary counselling with probiotics even in a normoglycaemic population and thus may provide potential novel means for the prophylactic and therapeutic management of glucose disorders.



Authors: Laitinen K , Poussa T , Isolauri E ; Nutrition, Allergy, Mucosal Immunology and Intestinal Microbiota Group
Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland




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