Study Aim

The maternal gut microbiota changes throughout the progression of pregnancy, which has been documented in industrial-lifestyle populations, yet we lack an understanding of how a mother’s microbiota, including the shifts that occur during pregnancy, impacts maternal and infant health. Given the interdependence of diet and the microbiota, a logical next step is to use microbiota-targeted dietary interventions in pregnant women to evaluate their effects on the microbiota during pregnancy, the infant’s developing microbiota, and aspects of their health. Longitudinal studies investigating microbiota dynamics in women during pregnancy and lactation and in their child’s first year of life during a microbiome-targeted dietary intervention will help answer such diverse questions as (i) how the maternal microbiome contributes to infant microbiome assembly, (ii) whether aspects of maternal diet can alter infant microbiome assembly, (iii) whether these alterations can improve mother and/or infant health (including immune system and metabolism), (iv) what types of bacterial strains are passed from mother to infant, and whether there are differences tied to post-delivery behaviors, and (v) how toddlers are impacted in terms of weight/growth charts and predisposition to obesity.