Vegetables in pregnancy lowers child's diabetes risk: study

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Mothers who eat plenty of vegetables during pregnancy will have children who are less likely to have type 1 diabetes, a new study suggests.

The risk of type 1 diabetes was twice as high in children whose mothers rarely ate vegetables during pregnancy, and lowest among children whose mothers ate vegetables every day of their pregnancy, according to the study published in the latest issue of the journal Pediatric Diabetes.

The study was based on analysis of 6,000 five-year-olds, of whom three percent either had fully developed type 1 diabetes or had elevated levels of antibodies that indicate a risk of developing the disease.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, is the first of its kind to show a link between vegetable intake during pregnancy and the risk of the child subsequently developing type 1 diabetes.

More studies of various kinds will be needed before a definitive conclusion can be drawn, said study author Hilde Brekke, a clinical nutritionist at the academy.

"We cannot say with certainty on the basis of this study that it's the vegetables themselves that have this protective effect, but other factors related to vegetable intake, such as the mother's standard of education, do not seem to explain the link," Brekke said. "Nor can this protection be explained by other measured dietary factors or other known risk factors."

While it's not known what actually causes type 1 diabetes, factors believed to play a role include immunological mechanisms, environmental toxins and genetic variations. Type 1 diabetes occurs throughout the world but is most common in Finland and Sweden.