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Updated: Aug 25, 2025

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes
Published on: June 28, 2024
Association of Folic Acid Supplementation in Early Pregnancy with Risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A
Hongyan Chen1, Yaqiong Hu1, Yannan Li1
1Department of Quality Management, Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, Women and Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401147, China.
Background:
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) may lead to many adverse effects on women and their offspring.
Method:
24,429 pregnant women were enrolled during early pregnancy from January 2018 to December 2021. The self-reported intake of folic acid supplements was assessed via a questionnaire. Oral glucose tolerance tests were used for the diagnosis of GDM. The association between intake or not, dose, and duration of folic acid and GDM risk was assessed.
Results:
6396 (26.18%) women were diagnosed with GDM. In the univariate models, folic acid was found to be correlated with total GDM risk (OR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.70~0.95, p = 0.009). After adjusting for potential confounders, the association with total GDM risk was not significant, but the association of folic acid with 2-h PBG diagnosed GDM risk was consistently significant (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.63~0.90, p = 0.002). No significant association between the dose and duration of folic acid supplementation and GDM risk was observed in the analyses.
Conclusion:
Folic acid supplementation might be a protective factor for the risk of GDM caused by the high level of postprandial blood glucose, but the dose or duration-related association between folic acid supplementation and GDM risk is not clear.
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