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The Effect Of Nutrition On The Microbiome In Pregnant Women And The Use Of Micronutrient Supplemented Probiotic Yogurt To Improve Outcomes, Megan Kathleen Enos

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The aims of this study were to characterize the gut, oral, and vaginal microbiotas of pregnant women with varying nutritional status and to determine if daily supplementation with probiotic yogurt containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and ground Moringa leaves, would ‘normalize’ the microbiota and improve pregnancy outcomes. For the latter, a clinical study was performed in Mwanza, Tanzania, in which consumption of yogurt for 88 ± 31 days, starting from the second trimester, did not result in excess weight gain, altered pregnancy outcomes or increased blood nutrient levels compared to an under-nourished group not taking the yogurt. Ingestion of the probiotic …