Associations between Maternal Diet, Body Composition and Gut Microbial Ecology in Pregnancy

Maternal body composition, gestational weight gain (GWG) and diet quality influence offspring obesity risk. While the gut microbiome is thought to play a crucial role, it is understudied in pregnancy. Using a longitudinal pregnancy cohort, maternal anthropometrics, body composition, fecal microbiome and dietary intake were assessed at 12, 24 and 36 weeks of gestation. Fecal samples (n = 101, 98 and 107, at each trimester, respectively) were utilized for microbiome analysis via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Data analysis included alpha- and beta-diversity measures and assessment of compositional changes using MaAsLin2. Correlation analyses of serum metabolic and anthropometric markers were performed against bacterial abundance and predicted functional pathways. α-diversity was unaltered by pregnancy stage or maternal obesity status. Actinobacteria, Lachnospiraceae, Akkermansia, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus and Anaerotuncus abundances were associated with gestation stage. Maternal obesity status was associated with increased abundance of Lachnospiraceae, Bilophila, Dialister and Roseburia. Maternal BMI, fat mass, triglyceride and insulin levels were positively associated with Bilophila. Correlations of bacterial abundance with diet intake showed that Ruminococcus and Paraprevotella were associated with total fat and unsaturated fatty acid intake, while Collinsella and Anaerostipes were associated with protein intake. While causal relationships remain unclear, collectively, these findings indicate pregnancy- and maternal obesity-dependent interactions between dietary factors and the maternal gut microbiome.