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Polyphenol-rich foods and risk of gestational diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 73, pages 647–656 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Animal studies have demonstrated anti-diabetic properties of several food-derived polyphenols, but data in humans remains unclear. This study aimed to review and meta-analyse evidence concerning the effect of the intake of several polyphenol-rich foods on gestational diabetes (GDM) risk. A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science and Embase databases for observational studies on the association between dietary intake of foods/diets rich in polyphenols and GDM risk. Inclusion criteria were original research articles with full texts published in peer-reviewed English language journals, which investigated foods within the top 100 richest dietary sources of polyphenols and reported odds ratio/relative risk with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The intake of polyphenol-rich foods and dietary patterns in relation to GDM were pooled with fixed- and random-effects models. In total, 12 (10 cohort, 1 cross-sectional and 1 case-control) studies were included for the final systematic review, comprising 124,959 participants and including 5,786 women with GDM. Five studies found a significant, inverse association between the intake of polyphenol-rich foods or Mediterranean diet and GDM, whereas five studies reported no association and two exhibited a positive association. Meta-analyses further showed that the risk of GDM was about halved amongst women with the highest score of Mediterranean diet compared to those with the lowest score. The results suggest that dietary patterns rich in polyphenols may reduce the risk of GDM despite inconclusive evidence for polyphenol-rich food groups.

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Acknowledgements

The first author, NMP, is supported by a Training and Research Fellowship awarded by the Nestle Nutrition Institute, Switzerland.

Authors contribution

NMP and AHL conceived and designed the study. VVD conducted a literature search and contributed to the interpretation of results and discussion. NMP reviewed the searched articles, analysed data and wrote the manuscript. AHL critically reviewed, revised and edited the manuscript. Three authors approved the final version prior to submission.

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  1. School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia

    Ngoc Minh Pham & Andy H. Lee

  2. Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam

    Ngoc Minh Pham

  3. Center for Population Health Sciences, Hanoi University of Public Health, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Vuong Van Do

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Pham, N.M., Do, V.V. & Lee, A.H. Polyphenol-rich foods and risk of gestational diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Clin Nutr 73, 647–656 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0218-7

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