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World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2022; 10(36): 13189-13199
Published online Dec 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i36.13189
Probiotics for preventing gestational diabetes in overweight or obese pregnant women: A review
Ya-Fang Deng, Li-Ping Wu, Yan-Ping Liu
Ya-Fang Deng, Li-Ping Wu, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, School of Nursing, Beijing 100730, China
Yan-Ping Liu, Department of Clinical Nutrition, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing 100730, China
Author contributions: All authors conceptualized the idea of the article; Deng YF contributed to manuscript drafting, organized data, and reviewed the literature; and all authors contributed to revising the paper and approved the final publishing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yan-Ping Liu, MSN, Occupational Physician, Department of Clinical Nutrition, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Hospital, No. 1, Shuaifuyuan, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100730, China. liuyp1227@vip.sina.com
Received: September 17, 2022
Peer-review started: September 17, 2022
First decision: October 30, 2022
Revised: November 12, 2022
Accepted: December 8, 2022
Article in press: December 8, 2022
Published online: December 26, 2022
Processing time: 100 Days and 5 Hours
Abstract

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit to the host. Specific probiotics or probiotic foods can be used to reduce the risk of diseases associated with aberrant gut microbiota composition. The incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has increased annually with the proportion of overweight and obese people. Overweight or obese pregnant women are at high risk of GDM and have obvious changes in gut microbiota compared with normal-weight pregnant women. Specific probiotics or probiotic foods may alter gut microbiota in overweight or obese pregnant women and inhibit the expression of inflammatory factors, consequently resulting in weight loss and reduced insulin resistance. This review discusses the mechanism of probiotics on GDM, as well as the dose, method and duration of probiotics use, and summarizes current evidence on probiotics in improving glucose metabolism and other maternal and infant outcomes in overweight/obese pregnant women.

Keywords: Probiotics; Gut microbiota; Diabetes, Gestational; Overweight; Obesity, Maternal

Core Tip: The occurrence and progression of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are associated with intestinal microbiota disorder. Probiotics modulate the gut microbiota, which can decrease lipopolysaccharide-containing microbiota in the gut and plasma lipopolysaccharides, and inhibit expression of inflammatory factors, thereby reducing insulin resistance, modulating glucose metabolism, and preventing GDM, especially in high-risk groups such as overweight/obese pregnant women. This review provides up-to-date evidence on the effects of probiotics in preventing GDM and improving glucose metabolism and other maternal and infant outcomes in overweight/obese pregnant women, and discusses the mechanism of probiotics on GDM, and the dose, method, and duration of probiotics use.