Meals for Moms: Medically-Tailored Meals for Women Who Had Gestational Diabetes

Pregnancy and delivery can function as a "stress test" for future development of cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, with gestational diabetes and excessive weight gain during pregnancy leading to worse outcomes later in a mother's life. The prevalence of both conditions continues to increase with the obesity epidemic, highlighting the urgent need for successful interventions to reverse maternal weight gain and promote normal blood sugars. The early postpartum period provides a critical opportunity to address diet behaviors that are related to both weight and diabetes. Postpartum medically-tailored meal delivery is a novel approach that may allow for improved blood sugar control and weight loss in a traditionally hard-to-engage patient population. There is currently no available data on the cost, feasibility, or effectiveness of providing medically-tailored meals to postpartum women. This is a pilot study of medically-tailored meals for new mothers whose pregnancies were complicated by gestational diabetes, and whose total gestational weight gain exceeded recommendations. Study will enroll 30 women with gestational diabetes and excessive gestational weight gain late in the third trimester of a singleton pregnancy. Data collection and intervention activities will begin after delivery. All participants will wear a continuous glucose monitor for baseline (first 2 weeks after delivery) and at follow up (after 3 months). Participants will also completed self-administered questionnaires, receive weekly informational videos by email, and have 3 monthly in-person check-ins with a member of the study team. Twenty participants will be randomly assigned to a medically-tailored meals intervention and 10 to a usual-care comparison group. A local community-based program will prepare and deliver 10 medically-tailored meals per week to intervention participants for their first 3 months postpartum.

Inclusion criteria

• Demographics: Women 18 years of age and older who reside in Forsyth County, NC
• Pregnancy: Currently 24 or more weeks into a singleton pregnancy
• Clinical evidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) defined as either 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) results obtained in the second trimester of pregnancy that show at least 2 abnormal values or a diagnosis of "gestational diabetes" included on the Problem List in medical record during current pregnancy, regardless of OGTT values
• Excessive gestational weight gain: Most recent weight exceeds predicted weight gain for current weeks gestational age defined as pre-pregnancy Body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or more and weight at most recent clinical visit 20+ pounds over pre-pregnancy weight or pre-pregnancy BMI of 25-29.9 kg/m2 and weight at most recent clinical visit 25+ pounds over pre-pregnancy weight
• English Proficiency: Able to read/understand English at or above a level sufficient to comprehend recruitment, informed consent, and intervention materials.
• Access to a smart phone/tablet/computer capable of connecting to video calls or teleconferencing software.
• Willingness to Accept Randomization: Prospective participants must be willing to accept randomization to either the medically tailored meal intervention or the comparison intervention condition.

Exclusion criteria

• Clinical history of diabetes (type 1 or 2) pre-pregnancy
• Non-singleton pregnancy
• Other chronic diseases or medical conditions that would increase risk or make participation otherwise unsafe, including special dietary needs. A clinician investigator will review the medical record for all potential participants to determine if any such conditions exist.
• Known food allergies of sensitivities. Potential participants who report special dietary requirements including vegetarians, vegans, those who follow kosher or other specialized diets will be excluded due to the small nature of this pilot study.
• History of allergic skin reaction to adhesive tape
• Unable or unwilling to wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) device
• Is scheduled for an MRI during the study weeks, making use of the CGM device unsafe
• Other: Conditions/criteria likely to interfere with participation and acceptance of randomized assignment, including the following: inability/unwillingness to give informed consent, major psychiatric or cognitive problems (schizophrenia, dementia, self-reported substance or alcohol abuse), participation in another research study that would interfere with Meals for Moms