Sticking to a healthy diet in the years after pregnancy may reduce the risk of high blood pressure among women who had pregnancy-related (gestational) diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other institutions.###The study was published in Hypertension.###“Our study suggests that women who have had gestational diabetes may indeed benefit from a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and low in red and processed meats,” said the study’s senior author, Cuilin Zhang, a senior investigator in the Epidemiology Branch of NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).###Funding for the study also was provided by NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and National Cancer Institute.###A healthy diet was also associated with lower risk for high blood pressure even in obese women.###Obesity is a risk factor for high blood pressure.###But obese women in the study who adhered to a healthythorne research magnesium citramate diet had a lower risk of high blood pressure, when compared to obese women who did not.###Approximately 5% of pregnant women in the US develop gestational diabetes, despite not having diabetes before becoming pregnant.###The condition results in high blood sugar levels, which can increase the risk of earbluebonnet calcium citrate liquidly labor and a larger than average baby that may result in problems during delivery.###For most women with the condition, blood sugar levels return to normal after birth.###However, later in life, women who had gestational diabetes are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.###The current study is the first to show that adopting a healthy diet — known to reduce high blood pressure risk among the general population — also reduces the risk among women with prior gestational diabetes.###In an earlier study, Dr. Zhang and her colleagues reported that a healthy diet after gestational diabetes reduces the risk for Type 2 diabetes.###To conduct the study, the researchers analyzed the health histories of nearly 4,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study II, part of the Diabetes & Women’s Health study.###Every four years, study participants responded to questionnaires on their eating habits.###When appropriate, the researchers categorized the women’s responses according to three healthy dietary approaches: the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, Mediterranean-style Diet, and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension or DASH.###These approaches emphasize consumption of nuts, legumes, whole grains and fish, and limit consumption of red anmagnesium citrate in stored prbluebonnet liquid calcium citrateocessed meats, salt, and added sugars.###After they statistically accounted for smoking, family history, and other factors known to increase high blood pressure risk, the researchers found that women who adhered to a healthy diet were 20% less likelferric pyrophosphate vitamin c folic acid vitamin b12 tabletsy to develop high blood pressure than those who did not.###“High blood pressure affects about 30 percent of U.S. adults and increases the risk for heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke,” Dr. Zhang said.###“Our study shows that a healthful diet is associated with decreased high blood pressure in an at-risk population.”