Combating urbanization: Microbiome-based dietary changes for pregnant and lactating women

Writing in the journal Gut Microbes, researchers affiliated with the Jinan University in Guangzhou, China, found dietary changes due to urbanization impacted pregnancy and lactation as it increases consumption of saturated fat, animal proteins, refined grains, added sugar, sodium and food additives.

“It is often overlooked that the adverse effects of these dietary changes can be transmitted from the mother to offspring during early developmental stages, subsequently influencing the predisposition to various diseases later in life,” the researchers wrote in the review.

They propose a framework which establishes “proactive preventative measures from the beginning of life, ultimately reducing the long-term risk of disease and improving public health outcomes.”

The urban dilemma

Urbanization has led to the inadequate consumption of fermentable fibers and phytonutrients. These are linked to low birth weight, intestinal inflammation and neurodevelopmental disorders, although how specific dietary components in urban diets are connected to these conditions is unclear.

Additionally, deficiencies in folic acid, vitamin E, vitamin D, iron and selenium are associated with placental aging, placental abruption, premature birth and even abortion.

Urban diets cause shifts impacting the gut microbiota and the accumulation of detrimental metabolites including trimethylamine and the depletion of helpful metabolites like short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). New evidence suggests that these metabolites can transfer from mother to offspring, altering development early in life.

The researchers noted it was important to identify these molecules in blood or breast milk as a first step to identifying microbiome-directed dietary therapies during pregnancy and lactation. They also highlighted the importance of recording metrics such as microbial profiles and metabolomes to identify biomarkers in mothers. This helps to identify risks for diseases within offspring and to understand the mechanisms behind these associations.

A three-step framework

The proposed microbiome-targeted precision diet framework includes:

• Identifying specific molecules in the blood or breast milk of mothers to predict long-term health of offspring
• Create a comprehensive database that gathers data on human and gut microbial metabolism and how they are linked to diseases and nutritional information. This can help scientists determine host-diet-microbiome interactions and their metabolic output.
• Assess disease risks in offspring. This would require measuring the metabolic profiles of pregnant women while customizing dietary and nutrition strategies to measure the composition of a woman’s individual gut microbiome and function.   

“Future research needs to move beyond a one-size-fits-all dietary guideline to effective and personalized health recommendations by predicting the metabolic outputs of various dietary components based on each individual’s genome, microbiome and blood parameters,” the researchers suggested.

Several databases, including the FooDB, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), FoodData, Virtual Metabolic Human and AGORA2 may provide datasets, when combined with genome-scale metabolic models, that “provide the possibility of predicting host responses to diets and gut microbial metabolic outputs based on microbiome-centric multi-omics data,” the scientists remarked.

They added that current databases are far from complete.

“Continuous optimization of algorithms and databases is essential to improve the ability to predict the host and microbial metabolic output of a defined diet, ultimately maximizing maternal nutritional benefits and enhancing offspring health,” the researchers wrote.

“Continued efforts to refine personalized approaches and validate them through rigorous trials will be vital to ensure safety and efficacy, ultimately paving the way for more precise and beneficial health outcomes in these vulnerable populations.”

Source: Gut Microbes. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2025.2483783. “Maternal consumption of urbanized diet compromises early-life health in association with gut microbiota”. Authors: Rong Huang et al.