Pregnancy and Microbiome
The CNP Pregnancy and Microbiome Research Category consolidates research exploring the relationship between pregnancy and the microbiome. To view each original study on the open internet, click “Original.” To view the CNP-written abstract summary, click “CNP Summary.” While only some of the CNP-written abstract summaries are available below for free, all abstract summaries are available to CNP members through the CNP Library Membership.
FEATURED CNP RESEARCH SUMMARY
This 2019 study states that a child’s emotional and behavioral development may be affected if his/her mother had suffered psychosocial stress before giving birth. Hechler et al. explore the role of the mother’s intestinal microbiota in this implication, which may in turn influence the microbiota in the intestines of the child. To investigate the relationship between psychosocial stress and fecal microbiotas in pregnant women, 70 female participants provided late pregnancy stool samples and completed questionnaires regarding anxiety as well as general and pregnancy-specific stress. The only association identified was between maternal general anxiety and microbial composition. In conclusion, this is the first study to find a mechanism by which psychological symptoms in pregnancy may affect the offspring.
2018
Emerging literature in the microbiota-brain axis and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders
Current evidence demonstrates how Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMAD) are linked to substantial morbidity and mortality in both mothers and their offspring. Perinatal health depends on several homeostatic functions, however, maternal systemic derangements may lead to suffering from anxiety and/or depression. The interplay between the gut microbiome, immunity, and stress may help explain the mechanisms behind PMAD. Recent studies investigating immunity, hormones and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) derangements seen with microbiome alterations, in addition to literature investigating perinatal immunity, gonadotropins, and stress, helped pave the way towards understanding PMAD. Rackers et al. (2018) examined the available literature focusing on the relationship between the gut microbiome and PMAD, accounting for several factors such as stress, microbiome composition, mood, dietary impact on the microbiome, and the mechanisms behind the impact of the gut microbiome on the immune system. The authors comment on the need for further research on the relationship between maternal microbiome and stress, anxiety, and depression, while accounting for the collective impact of identified key variables. [NPID: Anxiety, depression, immunity, microbiome, pregnancy, stress]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2019
Association between psychosocial stress and fecal microbiota in pregnant women
Exposure to stress during pregnancy has been linked to derangements in the emotional and behavioral development of children. A possible mechanism through which prenatal stress impacts children is through the maternal microbiome. In this study by Hechler et al. (2019), the authors investigated the links between psychosocial stress and the gut microbiome in 70 pregnant mothers. Study participants submitted questionnaires on general and pregnancy-related anxiety and stress, in conjunction with a late pregnancy stool sample for microbiome analysis. Data analysis revealed that, while anxiety was found to influence the maternal microbiome composition, no similar effects were observed with psychosocial stress. The authors comment that their study demonstrates how maternal anxiety during pregnancy impacts the gut microbiome, which serves as the first evidence of how psychological symptoms in the prenatal period may impact infants. [NPID: Pregnancy, mothers, children, stress, anxiety, gut microbiome]
2019
Improving mental health for the mother-infant dyad by nutrition and the maternal gut microbiome
Coming Soon.
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2019
The relationship between perinatal mental health and stress: A review of the microbiome
This 2019 review focuses on the interaction between stress-induced adaptations (such as the immune system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the autonomic nervous system) and the microbiota since this relationship may contribute to mental illnesses/disorders/behaviors/experiences in women during pregnancy and postpartum. Redpath et al. explain that when the stress response activates the HPA axis and dysregulates the ANS, the parasympathetic system is eventually inhibited. This article also mentions perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (during pregnancy or in the first year following childbirth) since its underlying mechanisms and etiologies have not yet been confirmed. It was recently found that the sustained elevated levels of cortisol, reduced heart variability, and altered immune responses (factors associated with stress) increase vulnerability to perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. The bidirectional communication that takes place between the nervous system and the microbiota is now also believed to play an important role in the development of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Finally, there is a lot of promise in the study of the relationship between the psychoneuroimmune system, the gut microbiota, and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. [NPID: anxiety, depression, heart rate variability, microbiota; pregnancy; psychosocial, stress, HPA, cortisol, gut-brain axis]
2020
Evidence for maternal diet-mediated effects on the offspring microbiome and immunity: Implications for public health initiatives
This 2021 article highlights the concerning effects of diet today, especially in the offspring. Mirpuri explains that the consumption of a high-fat diet by the mother during pregnancy can influence the microbiome of her future child or children. Diet is also believed to have significantly contributed to the high prevalence of obesity/overweight among women of childbearing age in the U.S. (said to be 50%). The consequential changes in neonatal microbiome associated with maternal fat-rich diets are related to multiple morbidities such as necrotizing enterocolitis (a serious gastrointestinal problem), atopy (tendency to develop allergic diseases), asthma, metabolic dysfunction, and hypertension (high blood pressure). This review outlines the possible mechanisms by which maternal diets affect offspring immunity and microbiome, focusing on the more recent studies. The author suggests possible avenues of research to approach and even potential mechanisms and summarizes our current knowledge of ideal nutrition during pregnancy and discusses how public health initiatives can promote the well-being of the future generation. [NPID: pregnancy, microbiome, gut-brain axis, gut microbiota, high-fat diet, high fat, obesity, overweight, enterocolitis, atopy, asthma, metabolic dysfunction, hypertension, high blood pressure, public health]