Maternal BMI with Respect to Infant Feeding Mode is Associated with Differential Composition and Functional Phenotypes of the Gut Microbiome of 4-month-old Infants

Résumé

Maternal body mass index (BMI) is well known to impact the development and composition of the infant gut microbiome, however there is a lack of understanding of the mechanisms behind this association. The present study aimed to explore these potential mechanisms by investigating how maternal BMI, with respect to infant feeding mode, affects the diversity and composition of the gut microbiomes of 4-month-old infants. Using the dataset generated by Dr. Kyung Rhee, we analyzed the effect of feeding mode on infant microbial diversity, across mothers of high BMI (> 30.0) and low BMI (≤30.0). We showed that infants from low BMI mothers have increased gut microbial diversity when formula-fed compared to breastfed. Furthermore, we demonstrated that gut microbial diversity in infants from high BMI mothers was unaffected by the choice of infant feeding mode. We also identified significant increases in the relative abundance of specific bacterial genera including Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Collinsella, as well as notable changes to the microbial functional potential of formula-fed infants from low BMI mothers. Namely, we saw an increase in pathways associated with glycogen and tryptophan degradation. Our findings illustrate that the effect of feeding mode on infant microbial diversity and functionality may be modulated by maternal BMI class.