According to a recent diabetes study, mothers who include lots of vegetables as part of their diet during pregnancy will have children with a lower risk of type 1 diabetes . Those mothers who hardly eat any vegetables during pregnancy double the risk of their child having type 1 diabetes . Mothers who ate vegetables every day of their pregnancy had the lowest risk of a child developing type 1 diabetes .
The report was published in the journal Pediatric Diabetes. To reach their conclusions researchers analysed data from 6,000 five year olds, of which 3 per cent had diabetes or were more likely to develop diabetes .
The research was conducted by a team at the Sahlgrenska Academy of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Clinical nutritionist and study author Hilde Brekke reportedly commented: “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. Nor can this protection be explained by other measured dietary factors or other known risk factors.”

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