GreathouseLab/Preg_Diet_microbiome

A pilot study of diet and the distal gut microbiome in African-American women with or without obesity ## Exploration of diet quality by obesity severity in association with gestational weight gain and distal gut microbiota in pregnant African American women: A Pilot Study African American (AA) women represent the largest group affected by pre-pregnancy obesity which is a risk factor for several adverse birth outcomes. Women with pre-pregnancy obesity experience different amounts of gestational weight gain based on obesity severity however, little research is available to help determine guidelines for gestational weight gain (GWG) by class of obesity. Our previous research demonstrated associations between the distal gut microbiome and gestational weight gain. Given that diet is one of the strongest factors affecting both obesity and the microbiome, we investigated the association between diet, the distal gut microbiome, and gestational weight gain among African-American women with or without pre-pregnancy obesity (N=21) at 28-29 weeks and 37 weeks of gestation using two dietary questionnaires (ASA24 2016 and DHQII) and 16S rRNA gene sequencing of distal gut samples. Results demonstrated that women with class II/III obesity had poorer diet quality (Healthy Eating Index (HEI)) scores when compared to women with normal pre-pregnancy BMI (pBMI) (58.45 vs 69.53, p=0.23) ,though non-significant, there were similar scores in late pregnancy. Women with pBMI obesity gaining above recommended guidelines for GWG had the lowest overall HEI scores in both early and late pregnancy. Those with GWG below recommended guidelines - women with class III obesity - had the poorest HEI scores for high quality protein intake (1.68, p=0.047). Higher GWG correlated with higher relative abundance of Bacteroidales, which correlated with higher intake of energy from fat (R2=0.53, Adj. p=0.015), specifically polyunsaturated fats (R2=0.68, Adj. p.=0.002). An inverse correlation among the same dietary factors was also observed for Clostridiales. Bacteroides correlated positively with multiple ami …