Diabetes – the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. as of 2011 – can lead to kidney failure, amputation, blindness, heart disease, and stroke.
Overweight and obese women are two to four times more likely to develop gestational diabetes than normal-weight women, and Hispanic women are two to four times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to be diagnosed, West New York-based Leche de Mama Program Director Rebecca Four said.
In addition, 10 percent of pregnant women are diagnosed with the disease, according to Four.
“The disease is really a misnomer because it truly is diabetes; just a form that is diagnosed during pregnancy,” Four explained. “Women don’t understand the risk factors to their own health and the health of their future children.”
Pregnant women are supposed to have a test for gestational diabetes during their pregnancy, but not everyone does.
Women with gestational diabetes tend to have larger babies that require birth through Caesarian section. New Jersey has the highest Caesarian birth rate in the country, accounting for 40 percent of all births in the state, and Hudson County’s rate beats the state average at 44 percent.
Women who are diagnosed with the disease stand a 40 to 60 percent chance of developing type-2 diabetes within the next five to 10 years of their lives.
This is where Four’s program, JUNTAS: Creating Healthy New Beginnings Together, comes in.
Working with Hudson County’s Hispanic women
Four’s parent non-profit organization, Leche de Mama (mother’s milk), touts prevention and lifestyle education as the most effective way to reduce the risks that obesity and poor nutrition pose to pregnant women and their children.
“There is a great need for this program in our community,” Four said. “There is a higher occurrence of issues of obesity and lack of appropriate nutrition in the Hispanic population, particularly with women who are pregnant.”
In conjunction with local health centers that serve women in lower income brackets, Leche de Mama provides nutritional education and emphasizes the importance of breastfeeding to the health of both mother and child. Four’s main passion is breastfeeding advocacy, because she believes it could alleviate many of the health issues her program’s target community face.
As with many health professionals and organizations, for Four, prevention is key.
“Women truly don’t understand the risk factors to their own health and the health of their future child.” –Rebecca Four
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The dangers of mis-education
“We live in a society where we are constantly exposed to television programs that encourage us to over-medicate,” she said. “So we tend to worry less about the consequences when we could have simply prevented them with our actions.”
The media exposes women to other harmful myths, Four said, such as the phrase commonly used by pregnant women as an excuse to overindulge: “I’m eating for two.” This is not true.
Four said that pregnant women only need to consume an average of 300 calories beyond what it takes to maintain a normal, pre-pregnancy weight. Healthful weight gain during pregnancy, on average, is between 25 to 30 pounds, depending on the woman’s size. “Most women gain well beyond that,” Four stated.
She continued that a pregnant woman who is diagnosed with gestational diabetes can actually reverse the condition by bringing her weight under control with proper nutrition.
On a more practical level, Four explained, not only does proper prevention and education reduce immediate and unnecessary health risks, but as treatment is costly, it can save a family thousands in medical care.
JUNTAS means together
When Four was approached by Connie Bonillas, a doctor and grant writer for N.J.’s Kean University, to collaborate with the federally-funded gestational diabetes prevention program called JUNTAS, she was delighted and immediately agreed.
Of 46 applications nationwide, the Health Resources and Services Administration granted funding to three programs. In collaboration, Leche de Mama and Kean will provide free consultation, and nutrition and lifestyle education and services while conducting a three-year study of gestational diabetes in Hudson County’s Hispanic women.
They are currently looking to recruit a total of 75 women before they recruit another 75 in July, Four said. Thus far they’ve taken in 22.
Women must be residents of Hudson County, Hispanic, and pregnant in their first or very early second trimester. And they must be at least 15 pounds overweight.
Though Leche de Mama is based out of West New York, there is no one single place for consultation and treatment.
“We want this to work for moms,” Four said, “and sometimes that means bringing our services to them.”
Interested women may find out more information or apply by filling out a referral form found at www.lechedemama.org, email Rebecca Four at lechedemama@me.com, or call (201) 699-6774.
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