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

种族主义的生活和生理体验(“化身”)被认为是健康差异的原因。在美国，黑人母亲因缺铁性贫血而患病和死亡的比例高得不成比例。在生物文化和进化考虑的指导下，体现框架提供了一个特别相关但研究不足的视角，将肠道健康在铁状态中的作用视为连接美国黑人女性生活经历和生殖结果的关键纽带。该项目通过让社区特别工作组参与研究的设计、执行和传播，以及通过对生物人类学中代表性不足的学生进行培训，加强了美国研究人员和母婴社区组织之间的关系。这项研究使用关键的生物文化方法和生活史理论框架来了解经验、肠道微生物群、铁状况和生殖是如何相互作用造成美国妇女之间的健康差异的。具体地说，这项研究将评估：1)肠道微生物群是否是女性经历种族主义和她们铁状况之间的体现途径；2)影响后代大小、出生时间和怀孕、分娩和产后缺铁风险的因素。采用纵向研究设计，跟踪妇女从怀孕早期到产后6个月的一段时间；在四个时间点收集关于妇女种族主义、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。肠道微生物组组成和功能的定量方法包括第三代测序和代谢组学分析。我们预测，黑人女性的社会经历和饮食与致炎细菌的高度浓缩有关，而致炎细菌反过来又与较差的铁状态和较差的母婴生殖结局有关。这项工作与对参与者生活中种族主义背景的定性探索相结合，将有助于建立一个了解产妇种族健康差异的生物文化背景。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.