Apparently, developing diabetes during pregnancy does not serve as a health motivator for many women. Although it would seem that most mothers-to-be would do anything to keep their children as healthy as possible and would be scared into healthier habits by a diabetes diagnosis, many seem to move in the opposite direction.

They have less healthy diets and are more likely to smoke than women whose pregnancies were free of diabetes, a large new study shows.

Gestational diabetes occurs in up to 8 percent of US pregnancies. While it usually disappears after pregnancy, as many as half of women diagnosed with the condition will develop type 2 diabetes within five years, Dr. Edith C. Kieffer and colleagues note in the journal Diabetes Care.

Perhaps this study is helpful but findings such as the researchers published: that women who developed gestational diabetes were less educated, obese, and prone to unhealthy habits, may encourage negative stereotypes of diabetics. Perhaps diabetes is not even a real 'player' in these results, and merely a side effect of other bad habits.

Have you ever experienced gestational diabetes? How did you handle it?