Massachusetts Marks Third Gestational Diabetes Awareness Day as Cases Climb

B.E.A.T Gestational Diabetes® and 360Girls&Women® urge early, team-based care to protect mothers and babies

BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, November 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- B.E.A.T Gestational Diabetes^® Inc., in partnership with 360Girls&Women^®, announces that Massachusetts will again recognize November 15 as Gestational Diabetes Awareness Day, marking the third year of the observance proclaimed by Gov. Maura Healey. This year's focus is early, coordinated care. When gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is caught early and managed by a team of specialists, mothers and babies face fewer complications during pregnancy and lower risks for years afterward.

A national analysis of more than 12 million first births, published in a December 2025 JAMA Internal Medicine, found that GDM rose every year from 2016 to 2024. Rates climbed 36%, from 58 to 79 cases per 1,000 births. In Massachusetts, GDM affected 5,417 births in 2023, or 8.1% of all births, according to the Department of Public Health, up 40% from 3,876 in 2014.

“More moms are being diagnosed with gestational diabetes every year, and the care they receive in the first weeks after diagnosis matters,” said Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, MS, RDN, CDCES, CEO of 360Girls&Women^® and executive director of B.E.A.T Gestational Diabetes^® Inc. “Early education, proper testing and expert nutrition support can prevent complications or reduce their severity. That care should continue through delivery and postpartum, because women with GDM, and their children, are much more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life. With the right care at the right time, we can interrupt that cycle.”

A clinician who had to fight for care
Anderson-Haynes knows both sides of the exam room. Despite more than six years at Joslin Diabetes Center and extensive training prior to that, she had to push to be heard when her own blood sugar came back elevated at 28 weeks. She was repeatedly denied a second oral glucose tolerance test and sought a second opinion on a concern her provider dismissed as normal.

“If I had to fight that hard, imagine what it’s like for moms who don’t know what questions to ask,” she said. “I want clinicians to listen more. No one should manage gestational diabetes alone. Women do best with a multidisciplinary team that includes a registered dietitian nutritionist and a certified diabetes care and education specialist, working alongside physicians, nurses and doulas.”

A call for prevention-focused policy
B.E.A.T. is urging everyone, from health care providers and registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) to patients and families, to call or write their members of Congress to support the Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) Act (S. 3934/H.R. 6199). The bill would extend Medicare nutrition coverage beyond diabetes and kidney disease to conditions including prediabetes and hypertension, a combination often seen in women at risk for GDM. It would also let nurse practitioners, physician assistants and clinical nurse specialists refer patients to RDNs. B.E.A.T. also urges research into tests that could identify GDM risk earlier than standard screening at 24 to 28 weeks.

“If the MNT Act becomes law, commercial plans covering pregnant patients could adopt the same referral standard, so women see an RDN before a GDM diagnosis,” Anderson-Haynes said. “RDNs practice preventive medicine, and that is largely overlooked in the U.S. Many of my patients want to trade a long list of medications for diet and lifestyle changes they can sustain. We deserve a seat at the table.”

Resources and interviews
B.E.A.T.’s growing library includes free resources and a paid program and course at beatgestationaldiabetes.org. Anderson-Haynes is available for interviews, including short-notice TV and radio segments, and can offer a “Diabetes-Friendly Pregnancy” holiday culinary demonstration for broadcast.

About B.E.A.T Gestational Diabetes^® Inc. and 360Girls&Women^®
B.E.A.T Gestational Diabetes^® Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that raises awareness, provides resources and advocates for comprehensive prevention and support for moms and moms-to-be. B.E.A.T. stands for Before pregnancy, Entering pregnancy, At diagnosis, Through delivery and beyond.

360Girls&Women^® is a Massachusetts-based holistic health and wellness practice offering evidence-based, personalized integrative and functional care that helps girls and women achieve complete health at every stage of life.

Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, MS, RDN, CDCES, LDN, NASM-CPT
B.E.A.T Gestational Diabetes® Inc. | 360Girls&Women®
+1 617-213-1589
sueellen@beatgestationaldiabetes.org
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