(OR07-03-26) Metabolic Adaptions Associated With Biofortified Pearl Millet in the Gut Microbiota of 12–18-Month Old Children

Saturday, July 25, 2026

4:54 PM - 5:06 PM ET

Location: National Harbor 4-5

Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition

Presenting Author(s)

NC

Nathaniel L. Cole, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate
Cornell Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health
Ithaca, New York, United States

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Co-Author(s)

SH

Samantha L. Huey, PhD (she/her/hers)

Research Associate
Cornell Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health, Cornell University
Germantown, Maryland, United States
IP

Ioanna Pagani

Cornell University, New York, United States
AG

Antonio González

University of California, United States
Julia L. Finkelstein, ScD, MPH

Cornell University, United States
JH

Jere D. Haas

Cornell University, New York, United States
SU

Shobha A. Udipi

SNDT Women’s University, India
PG

Padmini Ghugre

SNDT Women’s University, India
RP

Ramesh D. Potdar

Centre for the Study of Social Change, India
RK

Rob Knight

University of California, United States
Saurabh Mehta, MBBS, ScD

Founding Director and Janet and Gordon Lankton Professor
Cornell Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health
Ithaca, New York, United States

Disclosure(s):

Nathaniel L. Cole, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Samantha L. Huey, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Julia L. Finkelstein, ScD, MPH: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Saurabh Mehta, MBBS, ScD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: Previous iron supplemention studies in children have suggested adverse gut microbiota shifts. Given iron’s importance in early childhood, particularly where iron deficiency and anemia are high, it is essential to test food‐based approaches for similar impacts. Here, we report gut microbiome effects of 9 months’ daily consumption of iron/zinc‐biofortified pearl millet (FeZnPM), compared to control pearl millet (CPM) in children living in urban slums of Mumbai, India as part of a randomized controlled feeding trial (NCT02233764).

Methods: Children (12–18 months, N=223, hemoglobin >9 g/dL) were randomized to receive FeZnPM or CPM‐basedfoods (8.70 vs 3 mg Fe/100 g). Rectal swabs collected across follow‐up underwent shotgun metagenomic sequencing, and assigned to operational genomic units (OGUs). Arm differences were examined using diversity indices, functional pathway and differential abundance analyses at and between baseline and endpoint. OGU and diversity differences were examined using mixed models, and endpoint KEGG pathways using co‐occurrence networks.

Results: Children receiving FeZnPM showed distinct metabolic adaptations at study endpoint compared to CPM. The intervention group exhibited increased pathways for antibiotic biosynthesis and antioxidant metabolism, indicating enhanced resistance to pathogens and an improved gut environment. Conversely, FeZnPM consumption was associated with decreased pathways for pollutant degradation (xylene, aminobenzoate) and reduced prodigiosin biosynthesis, consistent with reduced abundance of pathogenic bacteria. Independent of arm, the maturing microbiome showed increased diversity and enhanced metabolic capacity for processing diverse substrates and reduced reliance on host‐derived substrates.

Conclusions: This is one of the first studies known to us that examines the effect of biofortified crops on the human gut microbiome. FeZnPM did not adversely affect the developing microbiota and may support beneficial metabolic adaptations. Thus, biofortified crops could be a sustainable approach to addressing iron deficiency while supporting microbiome development in early life.

Funding Sources: Funded by HarvestPlus and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.