Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Interplay between the maternal diet and gut microbiome may impact fetal immune development and allergic disease risk. This study investigated associations between maternal prenatal urinary metabolites and infant food allergy and then extended to potentially relevant dietary and microbial precursors. METHODS: We investigated 599 mother-infant dyads from an Australian population-derived prebirth cohort. Maternal dietary data and fecal and urine samples were collected in the third trimester. NMR was used to measure prenatal urinary metabolites. Infant food allergy status was determined at 1 year by skin prick allergy testing and food challenge. Regression techniques were used to investigate associations and adjust for pre-specific confounding factors. RESULTS: Higher concentration of hippuric acid in maternal urine, an end-product of dietary polyphenol metabolism, was associated with a lower risk of infant food allergy (odds ratio (OR) 0.62 (95% CI 0.42, 0.93)). Consistent with this, dietary proanthocyanidins, a polyphenol, were positively associated with both higher urinary hippuric acid concentration (0.11 log units, CI 0.01, 0.22) and lower risk of infant food allergy (OR 0.58 (CI 0.36, 0.96)). Maternal carriage of the gut commensal Prevotella copri, previously associated with protection against infant allergic disease, was associated with 21% higher urinary hippuric acid concentrations (CI 4%, 40%, corresponding to 0.19 log units CI 0.04, 0.34); however there was no evidence of mediation. CONCLUSION: Further studies are required to confirm whether higher dietary intake of proanthocyanidins during pregnancy is associated with protection against allergic disease in the infant via gut microbiome production of hippuric precursors and other immune-active metabolites.
Source: Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
DOI: 10.1111/pai.70252
Authors: Samantha L. Dawson, Fiona Collier, Martin O'Hely, Elaine Holmes, Lada Holland, Rachel Morgan, Samantha Lodge, Nicola Gray, Simon Phipps, David Burgner, Toby Mansell, John Molloy, Wolfgang Marx, Anne‐Louise Ponsonby, Peter Vuillermin, the Barwon Infant Study Investigator group
Institutions: Royal Children's Hospital, Deakin University, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Murdoch University, Imperial College London, The University of Melbourne, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology and Allergy
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: PA Research Foundation, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute, Jack Brockhoff Foundation, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Bond University, La Trobe University, Deakin University, State Government of Victoria, Minderoo Foundation, Percy Baxter Charitable Trust, Shepherd Foundation, Barwon Health Foundation, Medical Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, Cancer Council Queensland
Awards: G1007510808, Nutritional Psychiatry: Investigation and translation of personalised nutritional therapies for depression, A longitudinal population-based study of the development of cardiovascular risk in early childhood, Maternal carriage of Prevotella during pregnancy influences offspring innate immune responses and asthma at age 7, The relationship between maternal and infant dietary intake of fermentable fibre, gut microbiota, short chain fatty acids and allergic disease and asthma: a population-derived birth cohort study
OpenAlex ID: W4417482639