New research suggests that taking a diabetes drug during pregnancy does not stop an obese woman's babies from being born overweight, UPI reported.
It is thought that the additional weight gain in the womb is caused by exposure to excess blood sugar. Based on these assumptions, doctors had hoped that treating obese pregnant women with diabetes drugs would help reduce obesity rates and lower the number of difficult births by regulating their blood sugar.
Heavier babies are more likely to grow into overweight adults. They also have a higher risk of illnesses later in life, such as diabetes and heart disease.
For the study, researchers treated 226 obese pregnant women with the Metformin from the second trimester until their babies were born. There was no difference in the weight of babies born to mothers who received the treatment compared with a group of 223 women who received a dummy pill, HealthDay reported.
"We must find ways to encourage women to manage their weight before they become pregnant to minimize the potential adverse impact on their children," Jane Brewin, chief executive of Tommy's Center for Maternal and Fetal Health, said in a statement. "This study shows us there are no easy answers and we must re-double our efforts to find effective ways to help women who are overweight in pregnancy."
Metformin also had no effect on the number of birth complications, such as miscarriages and still births.
The treatment did help to reduce blood sugar levels in the mothers-to-be. It also helped to lower the levels of other markers that have been linked to pre-eclampsia and premature births.
The findings are detailed in the journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
