Distinct Diet-Microbiota-Metabolism Interactions in Overweight and Obese Pregnant Women: a Metagenomics Approach

Abstract

<p>Diet and gut microbiota are known to modulate metabolic health. Our aim was to apply a metagenomics approach to investigate whether the diet-gut microbiota-metabolism and inflammation relationships differ in pregnant overweight and obese women. This cross-sectional study was conducted in overweight (<em>n</em> = 234) and obese (<em>n</em> = 152) women during early pregnancy. Dietary quality was measured by a validated index of diet quality (IDQ). Gut microbiota taxonomic composition and species diversity were assessed by metagenomic profiling (Illumina HiSeq platform). Markers for glucose metabolism (glucose, insulin) and low-grade inflammation (high sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP], glycoprotein acetylation [GlycA]) were analyzed from blood samples. Higher IDQ scores were positively associated with a higher gut microbiota species diversity (<em>r</em> = 0.273, <em>P </em>= 0.007) in obese women, but not in overweight women. Community composition (beta diversity) was associated with the GlycA level in the overweight women (<em>P </em>= 0.04) but not in the obese. Further analysis at the species level revealed a positive association between the abundance of species Alistipes finegoldii and the GlycA level in overweight women (logfold change = 4.74, <em>P </em>= 0.04). This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under registration no. NCT01922791 (<a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01922791">https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01922791</a>).<br></p>