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A Stress Reduction Intervention for Lactating Mothers Alters Maternal Gut, Breast Milk, and Infant Gut Microbiomes: Data from a Randomized Controlled Trial
Yu, J.; Zhang, Y.; Wells, J.C.K.; Wei, Z.; Bajaj-Elliott, M.; Nielsen, D.S.; Fewtrell, M.S. A Stress Reduction Intervention for Lactating Mothers Alters Maternal Gut, Breast Milk, and Infant Gut Microbiomes: Data from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients2024, 16, 1074.
Yu, J.; Zhang, Y.; Wells, J.C.K.; Wei, Z.; Bajaj-Elliott, M.; Nielsen, D.S.; Fewtrell, M.S. A Stress Reduction Intervention for Lactating Mothers Alters Maternal Gut, Breast Milk, and Infant Gut Microbiomes: Data from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients 2024, 16, 1074.
Yu, J.; Zhang, Y.; Wells, J.C.K.; Wei, Z.; Bajaj-Elliott, M.; Nielsen, D.S.; Fewtrell, M.S. A Stress Reduction Intervention for Lactating Mothers Alters Maternal Gut, Breast Milk, and Infant Gut Microbiomes: Data from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients2024, 16, 1074.
Yu, J.; Zhang, Y.; Wells, J.C.K.; Wei, Z.; Bajaj-Elliott, M.; Nielsen, D.S.; Fewtrell, M.S. A Stress Reduction Intervention for Lactating Mothers Alters Maternal Gut, Breast Milk, and Infant Gut Microbiomes: Data from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients 2024, 16, 1074.
Abstract
Background: This study explored maternal gut, breast milk and infant gut microbiomes as possi-ble mediators of the observed effects of a relaxation intervention which reduced maternal stress and promoted infant weight gain. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in healthy Chinese primiparous mother-infant pairs. Mothers were randomly assigned to interven-tion group (IG, listening to relaxation meditation) or control group (CG). Outcomes were differ-ences in microbiome composition and diversity in maternal gut, breast milk and infant gut at 1- and 8-weeks between IG and CG, assessed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of fecal and breastmilk samples. Results: 38 mother-infant pairs were included in this analysis (IG=19, CG=19). Overall microbiome community structure in the maternal gut was significantly different between IG and CG at 1-week and the difference was more significant at 8 weeks (Bray-Curtis distance R2=0.04 vs. R2=0.13). Post-intervention, the α-diversity was significantly lower in IG breast milk (observed features: CG=295 vs. IG=255, p=0.032); the Bifidobacterium genera presented higher relative abundance. In parallel, significantly higher α-diversity was observed in IG infant gut (observed features: CG=73 vs. IG=113, p
Keywords
breastfeeding; gut microbiome; maternal stress; infant weight; mother-infant signalling
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.