The research aims to elucidate a specially-designed personalized diet based on Traditional Asian Diet and its efficacy in increasing the gut colonization of Prevotella sp. and butyrate levels in pregnant mothers and the benefits in reducing infant's food allergy development.
A preliminary pilot study is first will be conducted among a group of healthy volunteers. This pilot study aims to assess the feasibility of the intervention and obtain pre-eliminary data on its efficacy before proceeding to the full-scale research study. Next, in the actual trial among pregnant mothers, participants will be informed about the study and potential risk. All patients giving written informed consent will go one week screening period to assess for study eligibility prior to enrollment. At week 0, single-blind randomization (subject and health care providers except for principal investigator) will be conducted and participant will be randomized into two groups namely; the control group and the intervention group. The control group will receive standard dietary counselling on a healthy pregnancy diet. Meanwhile, the intervention group will receive dietary intervention which is tailored to the study objective to increase targeted bacteria of Prevotella sp and the short-chain fatty acids namely butyrate. The trial will be in 20 weeks duration during pregnancy and additional 12-months follow up for the delivered infants.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
92
The personalized traditional Asian diet will be formulated based on dietary components of a typical Asian diet characterized by high intake of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, soy foods and herbs and spices; moderate intake of fish, poultry, eggs, healthy cooking oils, yogurt or functional foods and low intake of meats and sweets (Ismail et al., 2020). The diet design also considering the recommendation of personalized dietary approach by including the element of individual preferences, requirement, cultural preferences, affordability and foods availability to facilitate the adherence and response to the diet.
Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia
Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
Maternal gut microbiome composition before and after intervention
Maternal stool samples will be collected at three pre-determined intervals (baseline (week 16), week-28 and week-36 gestation. The gut microbiota composition will be examined using the 16s rRNA sequencing. The alpha (Shannon, Simpson and Evenness Indices) and beta diversity of the gut microbiota will be compared within and between groups.
Time frame: 20 weeks
Maternal stool metabolome concentration of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) before and after intervention
Maternal stool samples will be collected at three pre-determined intervals (baseline (week 16), week-28 and week-36 gestation. The changes in stool SCFA concentration in (umol/g) will analyzed using the gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The concentration (umol/g) be compared within and between groups.
Time frame: 20 weeks
Incidence of allergy development in the delivered infants and its correlation with maternal gut microbiome during pregnancy.
Symptoms perceived by parents/caregivers will be asked during postnatal follow-ups at day day-28, 3, 6 and 12 months of age using a validated questionnaire, the Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire (CECAQ) (Minasyan A. et al.,2015). The results are then correlated with the maternal gut microbiome composition during pregnancy which was first being examined through the 16S rRNA sequencing analysis.
Time frame: 12 months
Incidence of allergy development in the delivered infants and its correlation with maternal stool metabolome during pregnancy.
Symptoms perceived by parents/caregivers will be asked during postnatal follow-ups at day day-28, 3, 6 and 12 months of age using a validated questionnaire, the Comprehensive Early Childhood Allergy Questionnaire (CECAQ) (Minasyan A. et al.,2015). The results are then correlated with the maternal gut microbiome composition during pregnancy which was first being examined through the 16S rRNA sequencing analysis.
Time frame: 12 months
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Infant's gut microbiome composition at neonatal age and its correlation with allergy development
Infant's stool samples collected during the neonatal age (day-0 to day-28 post delivery). The stool DNA will be extracted to examine the gut microbiome composition through 16s rRNA sequencing. The alpha (Shannon, Simpson and Evenness Indices) and beta diversity of the gut microbiota will be correlate with the incidence of allergy.
Time frame: 12 months
Infant's stool metabolome of the short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) concentration during neonatal age and its correlation with allergy development
Infant's stool samples collected during the neonatal age (day-0 to day-28 post delivery). The stool concentration of the SCFA measured in umol/g will be analyzed using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The concentration of the SCFA (in umol/g) will be correlate with the incidence of allergy.
Time frame: 12 months
Infant's immune functions and allergy development
Infant's immune function (measured by concentration of interleukin-10/IL-10, and transforming growth factor-beta/TGF-B). The plasma will be assayed IL-10 and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) using the ELISA kits following the manufacturer and the concentration measured in ng/mL. The concentrations IL-10 and TGF-Beta (ng/mL) will be further examined its correlation with allergy development in infants.
Time frame: 12 months
Infant's gut barrier and allergy development
Infant's gut barrier will be measured through the serum FABP2, a marker of intestinal integrity (Vreugdenhil et al., 2011). The plasma will be assayed using the Human FABP2 ELISA kit following manufacturer instructions. The concentration of the FABP2 measured in ng/mL will be further examined its correlation with allergy development in infants.
Time frame: 12 months