Nutritionist Rashi Chowdhary has urged pregnant Indian women to be aware of gestational diabetes and get the right screening tests during pregnancy.

Sharing a video on social media, Chowdhary says many women are only advised to take an HbA1c test, but additional tests may be needed to detect pregnancy-related blood sugar issues early. She says nearly one in four Indian women may develop gestational diabetes.

"One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that if your blood sugar has always been 'normal,' you're in the clear during pregnancy," she says.

According to her, every pregnant woman should consider getting two important tests between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy: the Glucose Challenge Test (GCT) and the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT).

The GCT checks how the body responds after consuming glucose and shows how quickly blood sugar levels rise. The OGTT measures how efficiently the body clears excess sugar from the bloodstream after a glucose load.

"Pregnancy changes the way your body handles glucose. That's why screening at the right time matters just as much as the result itself. The goal isn't to scare you. It's to catch problems early, so you have more time to support both yourself and your baby," she captions the post.

Chowdhary says these tests can detect blood sugar problems earlier than routine tests such as HbA1c or fasting blood sugar in some cases.

She also mentions that having normal blood sugar levels before pregnancy does not always mean a woman is protected from gestational diabetes, as pregnancy can change the way the body processes glucose.

"Gestational diabetes can usually be managed effectively when detected early through proper diet, lifestyle changes, regular monitoring and medical guidance. Most women with gestational diabetes go on to have healthy pregnancies when it's identified and managed early," the nutritionist adds.



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