Effect of mother's weight on infant's microbiota acquisition, composition, and activity during early infancy: a prospective follow-up study initiated in early pregnancy

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that deviations in gut microbiota composition may predispose toward obesity, and specific groups of commensal gut bacteria may harvest energy from food more efficiently than others. Alterations in microbiota compositions of mothers may be transferred to infants and lead to an increased risk of overweight. OBJECTIVE: We analyzed the fecal microbiota composition of infants of overweight and normal-weight mothers and assessed the relations of weight and excessive weight gain of mothers during pregnancy on the microbiota of infants. DESIGN: Mothers (n = 16) whose prepregnancy body mass index (BMI; in kg/m²) was ≥25 were selected with their infants from a prospective follow-up study of 256 women. Women with a BMI