UCLA

Objective

Examine the association of prepregnancy habitual consumption of fruits and fruit juices and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk.

Research design and methods

A prospective study among women with at least one singleton pregnancy in the Nurses' Health Study II from 1991 to 2001.

Results

Among 13,475 women, 860 reported a first diagnosis of GDM. The adjusted relative risks (RRs) for GDM from the lowest to highest quintile of whole fruit consumption were 1.00 (referent), 0.80 (95% CI 0.65-0.98), 0.90 (0.73-1.10), 0.80 (0.64-1.00), and 0.93 (0.76-1.16), respectively. The corresponding RRs for fruit juice were 1.00, 0.82 (0.66-1.01), 0.78 (0.63-0.96), 0.84 (0.68-1.04), and 1.00 (0.81-1.23).

Conclusions

These data suggest that prepregnancy higher consumption of whole fruits is not associated with an increased GDM risk. The association between fruit juices and GDM risk appears to be nonlinear.