Prospective associations of breastfeeding parents' postpartum dietary intake with infant gut microbiome at 6 months in the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study.

BACKGROUND

Oligosaccharides in breast milk facilitate colonization of infant gut microbiota that reduce the risk of metabolic disorders. Although diet influences human milk composition, no study to date has examined the association of breastfeeding parents' dietary intake, exclusively during the postpartum period, with infant gastrointestinal microbiome.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the relationship of postpartum diet quality of the breastfeeding parent, as measured by Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015), with 6-month infant gut microbiota.

DESIGN

A secondary data analysis of a prospective pregnancy cohort participating in the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study in North Carolina.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTINGS: Of 458 participants enrolled from November 2014 through October 2016, this study included 103 breastfeeding parent-infant dyads. Dietary recalls collected at 4-6 weeks and 23-31 weeks postpartum estimated diet quality. Infants were classified into one of the following groups based on their feeding exposures at 6 months: 1) breastmilk only; 2) breastmilk and solids; 3) breastmilk and formula (with/without solids).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Infant rectal swabs, collected 23-31 weeks following delivery, were used for deoxyribonucleic acid extraction and sequencing. The paired-end FASTQ files were input into Just A Microbiology System pipeline.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES

Multivariate linear models examined relationships between HEI-2015 components and abundances of infant microbial taxa in the full sample and by feeding groups.

RESULTS

In the overall sample, higher breastfeeding parents' total HEI-2015 score was associated with lower abundance of Campylobacter hominis (β = -0.0012, SE = 0.0003, p < .001, FDR q-value=0.002) and Acidaminococcus (Unclassified) (β = -0.0012, SE = 0.0003, p < .001, FDR q-value=0.002). Among infants exclusively fed breastmilk, higher HEI-2015 total protein foods score was associated with lower abundance of Streptococcus (unclassified) (β = -0.078, SE = 0.012, p < .001, FDR q-value=<0.001) and Anaerococcus tetradius (β = -0.014, SE = 0.003, p < .001, FDR q-value=0.043). Among infants fed breastmilk and solid foods, higher HEI-2015 refined grain score was associated with lower abundance of Clostridiaceae (β = -0.002, SE = 0.0004, p < .001, FDR q-value=0.013). Among infants fed breastmilk and formula, higher HEI-2015 total protein foods score was associated with lower abundance of Atopobium (Unclassified) (β = -0.01, SE = 0.004, p < .001, FDR q-value= 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS

Higher breastfeeding parents' HEI-2015 scores were associated with lower abundance of gut microbial genera that have been previously implicated in inflammation. Findings suggest the potential of the parent's dietary intake during breastfeeding to support the development of infant gut microbiome associated with favorable short- and long-term health outcomes.