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Published on: August 7, 2017
Maternal and cord blood vitamin D level and the infant gut microbiota in a birth cohort study
Zeinab Kassem1, Alexandra Sitarik1, Albert M Levin1
1Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Hospital, 1 Ford Place, 5C, Detroit, MI 48202 USA.
Insights
Maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy and at birth are linked to infant gut bacteria composition. Higher prenatal vitamin D was associated with lower gut microbiota richness and diversity in infants at one month old.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Nutritional Science
- Pediatric Health
Background:
- Vitamin D and the early life gut microbiome are crucial for child development.
- The relationship between maternal vitamin D status and infant gut microbiota remains largely unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between maternal plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels and infant gut microbiota composition.
- To examine the link between prenatal and cord blood 25[OH]D levels and the infant gut microbiome at 1 and 6 months of age.
Main Methods:
- Maternal and cord blood samples were collected to measure 25[OH]D levels.
- Infant gut microbiota composition was analyzed at 1 and 6 months using compositional analyses.
- Analyses were adjusted for maternal race.
Main Results:
- Higher prenatal 25[OH]D levels correlated with reduced gut microbiota richness (p=0.028) and diversity (p=0.012) at 1 month.
- Both prenatal and cord blood 25[OH]D levels were significantly associated with specific gut microbial taxa (OTUs) at 1 month.
- Certain bacterial species, including Acinetobacter and Corynebacterium, showed consistent associations with maternal and cord blood 25[OH]D levels.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal and cord blood 25[OH]D levels are demonstrably associated with the developing infant gut microbiome.
- Further research is warranted to elucidate the interplay between vitamin D and the microbiome in influencing child health outcomes.
Background:
Mounting evidence suggests both vitamin D and the early life gut microbiome influence childhood health outcomes. However, little is known about how these two important exposures are related. We aimed to examine associations between plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels during pregnancy or at delivery (cord blood) and infant gut microbiota.
Methods:
Maternal and cord blood 25[OH]D levels were assessed in a sample of pregnant women. Compositional analyses adjusted for race were run on the gut microbiota of their offspring at 1 and 6 months of age.
Results:
Mean prenatal 25(OH)D level was 25.04 ± 11.62 ng/mL and mean cord blood 25(OH)D level was 10.88 ± 6.77 ng/mL. Increasing prenatal 25(OH)D level was significantly associated with decreased richness (p = 0.028) and diversity (p = 0.012) of the gut microbiota at 1 month of age. Both prenatal and cord 25(OH)D were significantly associated with 1 month microbiota composition. A total of 6 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were significantly associated with prenatal 25(OH)D level (four positively and two negatively) while 11 OTUs were significantly associated with cord 25(OH)D (10 positively and one negatively). Of these, OTU 93 (Acinetobacter) and OTU 210 (Corynebacterium), were consistently positively associated with maternal and cord 25(OH)D; OTU 64 (Ruminococcus gnavus) was positively associated with prenatal 25(OH)D but negatively associated with cord 25(OH)D.
Conclusions:
Prenatal maternal and cord blood 25(OH)D levels are associated with the early life gut microbiota. Future studies are needed to understand how vitamin D and the microbiome may interact to influence child health.
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