Collaborative Research: Biocultural context linking the gut microbiome, iron, and reproduction

有人提出，种族主义的生活和生理嵌入体验（“体现”）是造成健康差距的原因。在美国，由于缺铁性贫血，黑人母亲的患病率和死亡率不成比例地高。一个框架的体现，通知生物文化和进化的考虑，提供了一个特别相关的但研究不足的透镜，看看肠道健康的作用，铁的地位作为一个关键的纽带连接生活经验和生殖结果之间的美国黑人妇女。该项目加强了研究人员和母婴社区组织之间的关系在美国从事社区工作队的设计，执行和传播的研究，并通过在生物人类学的代表性不足的学生的培训。这项研究使用批判性生物文化方法和生活史理论框架来了解经验，肠道微生物组，铁状态和生殖如何相互作用，以创造美国女性的健康差异。1）肠道微生物组是否是女性种族主义经历与其铁状况之间的体现途径，以及2）影响后代大小的因素，出生时间，以及怀孕、分娩和产后缺铁的风险。采用纵向研究设计，将随时间推移跟踪妇女，从怀孕早期到产后6个月;在四个时间点收集有关妇女种族主义，压力，饮食，铁状态生物标志物，微生物组组成和功能以及生殖结果的数据。量化肠道微生物组组成和功能的方法包括第三代测序和代谢组学分析。我们预测，黑人妇女的社会经历和饮食与促炎细菌的富集程度较高有关，而促炎细菌的富集程度又与铁的状况较差和母亲和婴儿的生殖结果较差有关。这项工作，结合参与者生活中种族主义背景的定性探索，将有助于建立一个生物文化背景，以了解孕产妇种族健康差异。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The lived and physiologically embedded experience (‘embodiment’) of racism has been proposed to account for health disparities. In the United States there are disproportionately high rates of sickness and death among Black mothers due to iron deficiency anemia. A framework of embodiment, informed by both biocultural and evolutionary considerations, offers a particularly relevant yet understudied lens to look the role of gut health in iron status as a key nexus linking lived experience and reproductive outcomes among U.S. Black women. This project strengthens the relationships between researchers and maternal-child community organizations in the U.S. by engaging a community task force in the design, execution, and dissemination of the research and through the training of underrepresented students in biological anthropology. This study uses both critical biocultural approach and a life history theory framework to understand how experience, the gut microbiome, iron status, and reproduction interact to create health disparities among women in the U.S. Specifically, this study will assess: 1) whether the gut microbiome is a pathway of embodiment between women’s experiences of racism and their iron status, and 2) factors affecting offspring size, timing of birth, and risk of iron deficiency during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. A longitudinal study design is used that will follow women over time, from early pregnancy to 6 months postpartum; data are collected at four time points regarding women’s experience of racism, stress, diet, iron status biomarkers, microbiome composition and function, and reproductive outcomes. Methods to quantify gut microbiome composition and function include third generation sequencing and metabolomic analysis. We predict that Black women’s social experiences and diet are associated with higher enrichment of pro-inflammatory bacteria, which are in turn associated with poorer iron status and poorer reproductive outcomes for mother and infant. This work, combined with qualitative exploration of the contexts of racism in participants’ lives, will contribute to building a biocultural context for understanding maternal racial health disparities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.