Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus was associated with increased risks of complications during pregnancy and delivery. The efficacy of probiotics for preventing atopic disease among overweight and obese pregnant women has not been a unified conclusion. Therefore, we aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of probiotics supplementation for overweight and obese pregnant women. Methods: We searched the Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science for randomized controlled trials from the earliest publication date available to September 23, 2020, regardless of language or publication status. Two reviewers independently extracted data with a standardized form. When disagreements arose, a third investigator was consulted. Data was pooled using the generic inverse variance method and expressed as mean differences and relative risk with 95% confidence interval (CI). Heterogeneity was measured and quantified by I-2 statistic. Results: There were no significant differences between probiotics and placebo on GDM (RR = 1.03; 95% CI, 0.81-1.30; P = 0.821; I-2 = 38.7%, P = 0.180), excess gestational weight gain (RR = 0.92; 95% CI, 0.79 -1.06; P = 0.223; I-2 = 91.2%, P = 0.001) and neonatal birth weight (WMD = 28.47; 95% CI, -34.80-91.73; P = 0.383; I-2 = 4.5%, P = 0.381). In addition, probiotics might increase the risk of preeclampsia including superimposed (RR = 1.91; 95% CI, 1.03-3.55; P = 0.001; I-2 = 0.0%, P = 0.994). Conclusions: Probiotics had no better efficacy for prevention of atopic disease in overweight or obese pregnant women. In contrast, excessive probiotics supplementation might increase the risk of preeclampsia. More data will be necessary to determine the prevention efficacy of probiotics with consideration of real-world and other epidemiological settings. (C) 2022 European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a major public health problem and a threat to maternal and child health. There is a lack of integrated and systematically synthesized knowledge about the prevalence GDM in Norway. Therefore, this systemic review aimed to present the best available peer-reviewed published evidence from the past 20 years about the prevalence of GDM in Norway. A comprehensive literature search was performed on online databases consisting of PubMed (including Medline), Web of Science, and Scopus to retrieve original research articles published on the prevalence of GDM up to August 2020. Also, databases of Norart and SveMed+ in the Norwegian language were searched to enhance the search coverage. Data were extracted using a standardized protocol and data collection form and were presented narratively. A total of 11 studies were selected to include for data analysis and synthesis with the total sample size of 2,314,191 pregnant women. The studies included heterogenous populations and mostly reported the prevalence of GDM in healthy mothers with singleton pregnancies. The prevalence of GDM in population registered-based studies in Norway was reported to be lower than 2%, using the World Health Organization (WHO) 1999 criteria. However, studies on high-risk populations such as the non-European ethnicity reported prevalence rates ranging from 8% to 15%. Given the evidence from available literature that reported trends in the prevalence of GDM, an increase in the prevalence of GDM across most racial/ethnic groups studied in Norway was observed. Overall, the prevalence of GDM in the low risk population of Norway is fairly low, but the available literature supports the perspective that the prevalence of GDM has shown an increasing trend in recent decades. This finding is very important for health service planning and evaluation, policy development, and research in Norway. Large-scale prospective studies, using the national data, are warranted to provide firm evidence over coming years. Our review findings can help policy makers devise appropriate strategies for improving women's reproductive health.