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Fecal Microbial Community Structure Is Stable over Time and Related to Variation in Macronutrient and Micronutrient Intakes in Lactating Women.

Authors :
Carrothers JM
York MA
Brooker SL
Lackey KA
Williams JE
Shafii B
Price WJ
Settles ML
McGuire MA
McGuire MK
Source :
The Journal of nutrition [J Nutr] 2015 Oct; Vol. 145 (10), pp. 2379-88. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Aug 26.
Publication Year :
2015

Abstract

Background: The fecal microbiota has been characterized in some adult populations, but little is known about its community structure during lactation.<br />Objectives: We characterized the maternal fecal microbiome during lactation and explored possible mediating factors such as nutrition.<br />Methods: Fecal samples were collected from 20 lactating women from 2 d to 6 mo postpartum, and bacterial taxa were characterized with the use of high-throughput sequencing. Bacterial community structure (at each taxonomic level) and relations between bacterial taxa and environmental and dietary variables were visualized and analyzed with the use of stacked bar charts, principal component analysis, and multivariate analyses such as nonmetric multidimensional scaling and canonical correlation analysis.<br />Results: Complex bacterial community structure was somewhat similar to those previously published for other adult populations (although there were some notable differences), and there were no clear associations with time postpartum or anthropometric or environmental variables. However, Spearman rank correlations suggested that increased intake of pantothenic acid, riboflavin, vitamin B-6, and vitamin B-12 were related to increased relative abundance of Prevotella (r = 0.45, 0.39, 0.34, and 0.24, respectively; P ≤ 0.01) and decreased relative abundance of Bacteroides (r = -0.55, -0.46, -0.32, and -0.35, respectively; P ≤ 0.01). Intakes of copper, magnesium, manganese, and molybdenum were positively associated with Firmicutes (r = 0.33, 0.38, 0.44, and 0.51, respectively; P ≤ 0.01) and negatively associated with Bacteroidetes (r = -0.38, -0.44, -0.48, and -0.53, respectively; P ≤ 0.01). Overall, data consistently suggest that increased consumption of a more nutrient- and calorie-rich diet was positively associated with relative abundance of Firmicutes.<br />Conclusions: The fecal microbiome of lactating women is relatively stable in the postpartum period and somewhat similar to that of other adult populations. Variation in dietary constituents may be related to that of relative abundance of individual bacterial taxa. Controlled dietary intervention studies will be required to determine whether these associations are causal in nature.<br /> (© 2015 American Society for Nutrition.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1541-6100
Volume :
145
Issue :
10
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
The Journal of nutrition
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
26311809
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.115.211110