The research also added that if the expectant mothers followed a special diet, exercised or were given insulin, the risk of obese babies disappeared.
The study's lead author, Dr. Teresa Hillier of Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon said, "The important message is that the risk of child obesity related to gestational diabetes is potentially reversible."
About 4 percent of pregnant women in the U.S., or 135,000 women annually, develop gestational diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. Pregnancy stresses the body, and some women become resistant to insulin and develop high blood sugar levels.
The high blood sugar can increase the weight of the fetus that sometimes requires delivery by Cesarean section, bringing other health problems for the mother and baby.
The research studied children of mothers of 9,439 patients in Oregon, Washington and Hawaii who gave birth between 1995 and 2000 and were all screened for diabetes.
Compared with children born to mothers with normal blood sugar during pregnancy, children born to mothers with poorly controlled high blood sugar were 89 percent more likely to be overweight and 82 percent more likely to be obese between the ages of 5 and 7.
However, children born to mothers with gestational diabetes that underwent treatment for diabetes were no more likely to be overweight or obese than children born to mothers with no evidence of gestational diabetes.
The study, funded by the American Diabetes Association, is published in the September issue of Diabetes Care.
