OLIDIAG Study “Effect of extra virgin olive oil addition in the diet of women with gestational diabetes mellitus”

Abstract

Introduction: the OLIDIAG is a multicentric study that is currently being conducted by Diabetes and Pregnancy Committee of the SAD and invited centers.

Objectives: to identify whether the addition of 3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) to the diet of women with gestational diabetes leads to improvements in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the mothers, reduce pregnancy weight gain and improve maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Materials and methods: the study is ongoing, and a partial analysis has been run with the results of those women recruited before 10th May 2023. Until that date, 145 patients had been recruited and aleatory assigned to either the group receiving the addition of EVOO (GDM-EVOO group) or the group that did not received this dietary addition (GDM group). From these patients, 64 patients finalized their pregnancies and their clinical and nutritional forms (specifically created for this study) have been completed.

Results: at the recruitment to the study (26.6 ± 0.3 weeks of pregnancy), the GDM and GDM-EVOO groups did not show differences on maternal age, weight, BMI, fasting glucose levels, 2 h PTT glucose levels and lipid profile. In the GDM-EVOO group, the adherence to the dietary treatment was good in 76% of the evaluated population. At term (pregnancy week 37), no changes were observed in the carbohydrate metabolic parameters when the GDM and GDM-EVOO groups were compared. Differently, a significant reduction was observed in maternal triglyceridemia and total cholesterolemia in the GDM-EVOO Group compared to the GDM Group (p<0.05). Although there were no changes in pregnancy weight gain in the GDM and GDM-EVOO groups, there was a tendency to the reduction of non-elective cesarean sections and a significative reduction of the neonatal weight in the GDM-EVOO group (p<0.05).

Conclusions: we were able to properly start a multicentric study to evaluate the effects of the addition of EVOO to the diet of women with GDM, with a good adherence to the dietary treatment. Our preliminary results suggest beneficial effects of the EVOO-enriched diet on the maternal lipid profile and on parameters related to the maternal and neonatal health.