You, pregnant. The science of pregnancy and diabetes.

摘要

ROM THE FIRST FEW DAYS after conception, a woman's body is already beginning to change. Pregnancy hormnones swiftly transform the body's daily operations: Temperatures rise, the heartbeats faster and stronger the kidneys work harder, meta-bolic priorities shift, and the body, of course, gradually expands. Wheter a woman has diabetes or not, preg-nancy naturally changes her body's insulin production and use. Insulin is the hormone that ushers glucose from the blood into body cells, where it can be used as energy or stored as fat. In the first trimester, the body wants to bulk up in advance of the energy-draining second and third trimesters, the fetus will have its turn to grow. "Meta-bolically, you are eating to grow your own nutrient stores," says Patrick Catalano, MD, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Case Western Reserve University. To pack on pounds, the body releases growth hormones that spur the insulin-making beta cells to increase production.