Conclusion
The evidence of the effect of varying levels of caloric consumption on glycemic control, maternal weight gain, fetal growth or birth weight and adverse fetal or neonatal and maternal outcomes in women with GDM is inconclusive. Limited research did not find significant differences in most outcomes with reported intakes of 1,384kcal to 1,863kcal per day in women with pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) of 22.4±3.2kg/m2 to 38.0±0.7kg/m2. In one study of women who began pregnancy as obese, gestational weight gain slowed after intervention with reported intakes of 1,560kcal and 1,630kcal per day, without adverse effects.
Results of the studies were confounded by use of reported vs. actual caloric intakes (possible under-reporting), tendency of the women to over-restrict caloric intake vs. prescribed, inconsistent stratification by pre-pregnancy BMI and pre-pregnancy weights not described, making comparison and synthesis of the research challenging. More research is needed to elucidate the effect of calorie consumption (kcal per kg pre-pregnancy body weight), independent of other factors, on fetal or neonatal and maternal outcomes.
