Expected mothers who eat a low glycemic index diet may have healthier babies. The glycemic index of a food is the measure of how rapidly blood sugar rises after meals. In common, low fiber foods containing simple starches, like candy, have a higher glycemic index than foods rich in fiber and more complex carbohydrates, like whole wheat bread and vegetables. The result of dietary glycemic index on weight and chronic disease is still controversial. But given that maternal glucose is the major source of nutrition for fetal growth, they add, the glycemic index of a expectant woman's diet could be expected to play a role in fetal health.

Advantage of preventions:

In a research, infants born to the 30 women on the high glycemic index diet were heavier than the babies of the 32 women on the low glycemic index diet. These infants also had a higher ponderal index, a measure of heaviness in relation to length. One third of the babies whose mothers were on the high-glycemic index diet were heavy for their gestational age, contrast to 3.1 per cent of the infants whose mothers ate a low-glycemic index diet. Because birth weight and ponderal index forecast long-term risk of obesity and chronic disease, a low-glycemic index diet in pregnancy may favorably influence long-term outcomes.

Increasing risk factors:

Risk factors for the development of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes include overweight or obesity and lack of physical activity. Diets that are loaded with fat and highly processed carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (GI) and an increasing inclination for children to spend hours every day in front of computers, the TV and playing video games instead of participating in healthy physical activity. These influence children to gain weight and develop other symptoms of the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is a collection of conditions like overweight, diabetes, high blood pressure and increased blood fat levels among others. The truth that children as young as three years are previously being diagnosed as pre-diabetic or as distress from the metabolic syndrome should make alarm bells ring. Not only health practitioners, but also all parents need to be conscious of these serious threats to the health of the babies.