An interdisciplinary team from UCONN and Health in Health to researchers has teamed up with a small company based in Hartford, My local chefsTo develop a program to help pregnant people diagnosed with gestational diabetes (also known as GDM) navigate in their diagnosis and make choices to ensure healthy pregnancy.
This program, Meals4moms, provides people diagnosed with free GDM meals aligned on the recommendations of the American Diabetes Association for GDM management, support for personalized exercise and access to information and resources based on evidence via a website.
Dr Andrea ShieldsAssociate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UCONN medical school in Uconn Health, is the spearhead of the project team. Other members include Molly WaringAssociate Professor of Health Sciences Allied with the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (Cahnr)); Vanessa Sena, CEO of my local chiefs; Ock Chunprofessor of nutritional sciences at Cahnr; Linda PescatelloKinesiology teacher at Cahnr; And Helen WuAssociate Professor of Psychiatry at the UCONN Medicine School.
Gestational diabetes has an impact on 2 to 10% of American pregnancies, and around 50% of Patients with GDM will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. Diabetes during pregnancy can have an impact on long -term health of mom and baby. Moms can undergo higher blood pressure rates. The baby may need special care after birth and could be at risk of developing obesity.
The Meals4moms program offers a unique opportunity not only to help pregnant GDM pregnant to make changes necessary to manage their health during pregnancy, but also to prevent long -term diabetes and promote maternal and child health. More specifically, the program offers weekly meal delivery and specific recipes to help manage GDM, videos and educational podcasts and personalized fitness plans to encourage more physical activity during pregnancy.
The UCONN office of the vice-president of the clinical research and research innovation seed program (CRISP) funded the program. CRISP supports teachers in clinical roles to launch important research projects.
“Patients with gestational diabetes are faced with significant challenges in adjusting their diet.
The research team recently published the results of the first phase of this research in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. In this study, the team interviewed nine pregnant adults with GDM to request their comments on the 4mom meal program.
Participants were shown a model of the 4moms meal website, sample recipes, kitchen demonstrations, exercise video and free online yoga videos that the search team checked. Participants were then interviewed on the aspects of the 4mom meal program they loved and improvement opportunities.
Overall, the participants were enthusiastic about the 4mom meal program. They were delighted to be able to order meals for themselves and their families and estimated that the delivery of meals would reduce stress knowing what foods are “approved by GDM”.
Participants also liked the idea of personalized support for exercise and access to recipes and exercise videos approved by GDM experts. They highlighted the importance of offering meals and recipes in a variety of kitchens and responding to food and food allergies for patients and families.
“It was very useful to speak to women with GDM and know how the Remes4Mom program would integrate in their lives,” explains Waring, who conducted interviews with graduate and undergraduate students of his research team.
The results of the study informed the second phase of the project, which consisted of a randomized pilot trial to test the feasibility of adding the 4mom meal program to usual prenatal care for those affected by GDM.
My local chefs also offer online kitchen demonstration videos and recipes that are examined by pregnancy and nutrition experts.
Data from these two studies will inform a clinical trial to test whether the feals4moms program as well as the usual prenatal care is more effective than usual care to help pregnant people manage their GDM.
The objective of the project is to support a healthier diet and lifestyle for study participants and their families. In addition, the project aims to assess whether the Meals4moms program is part of the life of the pregnant person and improves food and long -term exercise.
The Meals4moms program will also strengthen community engagement and improve the health of Connecticut residents by taking advantage of local stakeholders such as local and farmers.
“Collaboration with UCONN and UCONN Health has strengthened our ability to integrate nutrition based on evidence in patient care. Their research expertise was invaluable to advance our medically tailor -made meal programs, ”explains Sena, CEO of my local chefs. “We aim to expand our scope to support more pregnant women and improve the results of maternal health thanks to personalized and medically tailor -made meals.”
This approach has the potential to be applied to other communities inside and beyond Connecticut.