Pre-pregnancy body mass index and gut microbiota of mothers and children 5 years postpartum
Authors' conclusion
Pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with gut microbiota diversity and composition of mothers and children 5 years after birth, however, the nature and direction of most associations differed for mothers and children. Future studies are encouraged to confirm our findings and look into potential mechanisms or factors that may drive these associations.
Study context
- Population
- Mothers and children followed from pregnancy until 5 years postpartum, Gen3G cohort (Canada, enrolled 2010–2013)
- Participants
- 180 mother-child pairs
- Exposure
- Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and child 5-year BMI z-score vs gut microbiota of mothers and children 5 years postpartum
- Outcome
- Gut microbiota diversity and composition 5 years postpartum
- Follow-up
- 5 years postpartum
Methodological detailsGen3G cohort, 16S rRNA sequencing (V4 region)
- Gen3G cohort
- 16S rRNA sequencing (V4 region)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
5 years postpartum
- Mother-child pairs had greater similarity in overall microbiome composition than between mothers and between children
- Mothers: higher pre-pregnancy BMI and 5-year postpartum BMI associated with lower observed amplicon sequence variants (ASV) richness and Chao 1 index
- Children: higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI weakly associated with lower Shannon index
- Children: 5-year BMI z-score associated with higher observed ASV richness
- Pre-pregnancy BMI linked to differential abundances of several ASVs in Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae families; no specific ASV had overlapping associations with BMI measures in both mothers and children
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Pre-pregnancy body mass index and gut microbiota of mothers and children 5 years postpartum. Int J Obes (Lond). Published 12 May 2023. doi:10.
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