Is There a Relation Between 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Deficiency and Gestational Diabetess

Abstract

One of the essential roles of vitamin D is to maintain a good state of health, its actions being extremely complex. In the past years, the role and involvement of vitamin D have been intensively discussed in a variety of physiological or pathological conditions. To be effective, vitamin D requires binding to specific nuclear receptors (VDRs) that are found in multiple tissues. Therefore, there is a great interest in studies focused on vitamin D in order to evaluate the potential functions and relations with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This disease is defined by glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. It presents an increased risk of later progression to type 2 diabetes. Now, gestational diabetes represents a global public health problem due to its increasing incidence and possible severe complications of pregnancy. This article centralizes recent studies focused on a possible link between vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes, knowing that in pregnant women the insufficiency or deficiency of that vitamin is a common thing.