Obese Diabetic Women Blamed For Unhealthy Babies

Filed in archive Lifestyle on August 17, 2006

More about gestational diabetes, a hugely popular subject this week. This article proves troublesome to me. On the one hand, it contains a message that absolutely needs to be passed along. On the other, the focus on solely obesity--and the way it is so obviously scorned (terms like 'hugely obese' are used)--walks an uncomfortable line between 'education' and prejudice.

New figures show that babies born to diabetic mothers are four times more likely to die shortly after birth than children born to women who do not have the condition. Babies delivered by diabetics are also between three and four times more likely to have serious heart, brain or spinal cord defects.

As the number of obese women developing diabetes grows, experts at the Royal of College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology fear that the scale of the problem will increase and that decades of progress in reducing perinatal death will be undermined.

Some maternity units have begun ordering reinforced beds and operating tables to bear the weight of clinically obese mothers-to-be.

"We have these hugely obese girls who are getting type-2 diabetes and we're seeing more and more of them getting pregnant," she said. "I can't remember ever seeing a young woman with type-2 diabetes when I started practising. Now I'm seeing them in my clinic all the time. This is an extremely serious problem."

"Political correctness demands that we handle the issue sensitively, but the fact is: people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and certain ethnic groups are more likely to be affected and we need to make them aware of the dangers."

What do you think: is an 'in your face' approach like this necessary?