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Maternal nutrition, infants and children

Lower dietary vitamin E intake during the second trimester is associated with insulin resistance and hyperglycemia later in pregnancy

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 67, pages 1154–1156 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives:

Beneficial effects of vitamin E on insulin sensitivity have been reported in observational and short-term intervention studies in non-pregnant populations. We aimed to investigate whether dietary vitamin E intake during the second trimester would be associated with glucose metabolism later in pregnancy and whether this association would be influenced by an insulin-sensitizing hormone adiponectin.

Subjects/methods:

Women with singleton pregnancies (n=205) underwent a 3-h oral glucose tolerance test at 30 weeks gestation and were asked to recall second trimester dietary intake.

Results:

Higher dietary vitamin E intake was associated with lower fasting glucose, lower HOMA insulin resistance, and higher Matsuda insulin sensitivity index after covariate adjustment including serum adiponectin among women consuming daily multivitamin supplements (all P⩽0.03).

Conclusions:

Lower dietary vitamin E intake during the second trimester is associated with hyperglycemia and insulin resistance later in pregnancy among women consuming daily multivitamin supplementations. Further, these associations are not influenced by adiponectin.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the study participants for their contribution and support. This work was supported by grants from the Canadian Diabetes Association, Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); CIHR Fellowship Award to SHL; CIHR Canada Research Chair in the Epidemiology of Type 2 Diabetes and Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award to AJH; the Sam and Judy Pencer Family Chair in Diabetes Research at Mount Sinai Hospital and University of Toronto to BZ. These funding agencies had no role in the design, implementation, analysis, or interpretation of the data. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01405547.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    S H Ley, A J Hanley & D L O'Connor

  2. Division of Endocrinology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    A J Hanley & B Zinman

  3. Leadership Sinai Centre for Diabetes, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    A J Hanley & B Zinman

  4. Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    M Sermer

  5. Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    B Zinman

  6. Physiology and Experimental Medicine Program and Professional Practice, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    D L O'Connor

Authors
  1. S H Ley
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  2. A J Hanley
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  3. M Sermer
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  4. B Zinman
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  5. D L O'Connor
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to S H Ley or D L O'Connor.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Ley, S., Hanley, A., Sermer, M. et al. Lower dietary vitamin E intake during the second trimester is associated with insulin resistance and hyperglycemia later in pregnancy. Eur J Clin Nutr 67, 1154–1156 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.185

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.185

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