Gestational Diabetes and

Exercise has long been accepted as an adjunctive nonmedica l intervention in the management o f diabetes in nonpregnant subjects. It is universally accepted that pregnancy is a diabetogenic event which could develop into gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in up to 12% o f pregnant w o m e n . GDM, a carbohydrate intolerance o f variable severity with onset or first recognit ion during pregnancy, involves a relative resistance to insulin. Exercise b e c o m e s thus a logical intervention, only recently o f fered as an adjtmctive therapy to pregnant diabetics. This article reviews our current understanding o f the role o f exercise in the management o f GDM. Copyright 9 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company