Pregnant people urged not to skip or mess with their glucose test due to 'scary' new trend
"This trend and the misinformation around it will 100% kill babies, if it hasn't already."

New trend has pregnant people refusing diabetes testing.
Social media can be used to spread education and overall helpful information, but it can be hard to decipher what's true and what's not. Especially if the person making the video or writing the post speaks with authority, as if this is information you should already know and now you're somehow behind the curve in knowledge.
Recently, a trend has popped up of influencers insisting that belly buttons are connected to multiple nerves, veins and organs in your body and exclaiming that rubbing caster oil in your belly button will provide you with immense health benefits. Doctors and nurses on Tiktok simply explained that belly buttons are a scar that leads to nowhere but didn't discourage people from greasing up their belly buttons.
But when it comes to medical information, not everything can be assumed harmless misinformation. There has been an uptick in videos of pregnant influencers encouraging others to refuse the glucose drink that helps detect gestational diabetes.
The women in the videos cite unknown chemicals and dyes in the glucose drink and insist on eating things like fruit, jelly beans, fruit juice and even soft drinks instead. Ironically, things like jelly beans, juice and soft drinks all have dyes and hard-to-pronounce chemicals in them. This trend tipped the scales from quirky and harmless to misinformed and dangerous, which has had doctors, nurses and licensed dietitians ringing all of the alarms.
Jen Hamilton, a labor and delivery nurse, posted a video responding to some of the misinformation she was getting tagged in.
"Okay, I have to talk about the scariest pregnancy trend that I'm seeing on social media right now," Hamilton explains. "This trend and the misinformation around it will 100% kill babies, if it hasn't already, and that is the encouragement to pregnant people to refuse the gestational diabetes screening in pregnancy. Or the use of unvalidated alternatives to the glucose screening test."
To show an example, Hamilton plays a short clip of a pregnant person holding a bottle of Coke with writing on the screen that says, "Come with me to do my glucose test. 26 weeks pregnant!" Hamilton obscures the pregnant person's face and screen name for their privacy, but the implications of refusing proper glucose screening using the approved Glucola drink can have severe complications, which Hamilton gets into further in the video.
You can watch the entire video below, including some clips from other professionals Hamilton added to her post:
- This mom is sharing her story of pregnancy loss so others won't struggle alone. ›
- Moms rally around Chrissy Teigen after she cautiously announces pregnancy two years after a loss ›
- After a tragic birth story out of Atlanta, an OBGYN breaks down 'maneuvers of last resort' ›
- Grieving mom stresses importance of glucose test during pregnancy - Upworthy ›
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."