It is fairly easy to understand what causes diabetes in pregnancy to develop at a higher rate in women. It all boils down to glucose. Glucose is the body’s main nourishment, developing as the result of digesting food. Since we all digest food, we all produce glucose. When pregnant, the mother’s body must also provide glucose to supply the baby’s needs. The glucose is passed from the mother to the baby through the wall of the placenta. This is the baby’s sole source of nourishment.

The placenta makes hormones to aid the development of the fetus, but these same essential hormones also make it more difficult for the mother’s body to use up the insulin. After about 19 or 20 weeks, the placenta starts producing a lot more of these hormones that are “anti-insulin”, and is the beginning of what causes pregnancy diabetes.

If too many of these anti-insulin hormones …