121: 9 things your doctor didn’t tell you about gestational diabetes

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Today’s letter is reported by Cassie Shortsleeve and brought to you by Ritual—a female-founded traceable supplement company—through the Two Truths x Ritual Reporting Grant, which helps fund and unlock our original health reporting for all readers.

Many of us learn about gestational diabetes briefly during an OB appointment, we are screened for it through a routine test in pregnancy, and some of us receive an unexpected diagnosis—too often with little explanation of why gestational diabetes matters much beyond birth.

As a health reporter, I’ve reported on many pregnancy complications and conditions, including gestational diabetes—a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy when you have high blood sugar.

GD can lead to a number of short- and long-term complications. It impacts anywhere from about 7% to 13% of pregnancies in the U.S. It’s one of the most common complications of pregnancy.

Rates are also up 36%, having risen every year since 2016 in this country, according to the latest trend data through 2024.1

But there’s a lot more you need to know about it.

Recently, Camille Powe, M.D., co-director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Diabetes in Pregnancy Program, told me that gestational diabetes can be a window into your overall health.

And more and more research is pointing to the fact that gestational diabetes—as well as other common complications of pregnancy—are linked to health issues in midlife and beyond.

That’s important to know. Recently, I asked Dr. Powe to break down what else women are too often not told about gestational diabetes. We hope this information helps you better understand your overall health experience; save it, share it with a friend who had GD, and help spread the word.

1. Gestational diabetes can be a critical early health signal.

Up to half of women with gestational diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes, and women who have