Maternal Dietary Protein Patterns and Neonatal Anthropometrics: A Prospective Study with Insights from NMR Metabolomics in Amniotic Fluid
Charikleia Kyrkou,
Charalambos Fotakis,
Aristea Dimitropoulou,
Foteini Tsakoumaki,
Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis,
Georgios Menexes,
Costas G. Biliaderis,
Apostolos P. Athanasiadis,
Alexandra-Maria Michaelidou
Affiliations
Charikleia Kyrkou
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Charalambos Fotakis
Institute of Chemical Biology, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 116 35 Athens, Greece
Aristea Dimitropoulou
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Foteini Tsakoumaki
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis
Institute of Chemical Biology, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 116 35 Athens, Greece
Georgios Menexes
Department of Field Crops and Ecology, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Costas G. Biliaderis
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Apostolos P. Athanasiadis
3rd Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Alexandra-Maria Michaelidou
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
This study aimed to characterize dietary protein patterns (DPPs) in a sample pool of 298 well-nourished pregnant women and explore potential associations between DPPs and neonatal anthropometrics. Maternal dietary data were collected using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Neonatal anthropometrics were abstracted from health booklets. A hierarchical cluster analysis identified three DPPs: “Dairy-focused”, “Med-fusion”, and “Traditional-inspired”. The “Dairy-focused” DPP exhibited the highest protein intake (p p p p p p p = 0.007) and the lowest ponderal index (p = 0.003). The NMR-metabolomics approach was implemented on a subset of women that provided amniotic fluid (AF) specimens (n = 62) to elucidate distinct metabolic signatures associated with DPPs. PCA and OPLS-DA models verified the adherence to three DPPs, revealing that the levels of several amino acids (AAs) were the highest in “Dairy-focused”, reflecting its protein-rich nature. The “Traditional-inspired” DPP showed decreased AAs and glucose levels. This knowledge may contribute to optimizing maternal dietary recommendations. Further research is needed to validate these findings and better understand the relationships between maternal diet, AF metabolic signature, and neonatal anthropometrics.
