however , until the current wei bao , postdoctoral fellow 1 , deirdre k tobias , instructor 2 3 , frank b hu , professor 3 4 5 , jorge e chavarro , associate professor 3 4 5 , cuilin zhang , senior investigator 1 1epidemiology branch , division of intramural population health research , eunice kennedy shriver national institute of child health and human development , national institutes of health , rockville , md 20852 , usa 2division of preventive medicine , brigham and women ’s hospital and harvard medical school , boston , ma 02215 , usa 3department of nutrition , harvard t h chan school of public health , boston , ma 02115 , usa 4department of epidemiology , harvard t h chan school of public health , boston , ma 02115 , usa 5channing division of network medicine , department of medicine , brigham and women ’s hospital and harvard medical school , should women planning a pregnancy lay off the french fries and mashed potatoes ?
the researchers suggest that may help lower gestational diabetes risk .
their study in the bmj tracked more than 21,000 pregnancies .
the findings appear in the bmj ( formerly the british medical journal ) .
the bmj study linked high potato consumption to a higher diabetes risk .
but uk experts say proof is lacking and lots of people need to eat more starchy foods for fibre , as well as fresh fruit and veg .
previous studies have linked foods with a high glycemic index , a measure of the ability to raise blood sugar levels , to a higher risk of gestational or type 2 diabetes .
image copyright science photo library eating potatoes or chips on most days of the week may increase a woman 's risk of diabetes during pregnancy , say us researchers .
this is probably because starch in spuds can trigger a sharp rise in blood sugar levels , they say .