{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T22:29:37Z","timestamp":1790720977692,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,4,13]],"date-time":"2019-04-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1555113600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002341","name":"Academy of Finland","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["#258606"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["#258606"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002341","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"State research funding for university level health research of the Turku University Hospital Expert Responsibility Area","award":["-"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["-"]}]},{"name":"Diabetes Research Foundation","award":["-"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["-"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004037","name":"Juho Vainio Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["-"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["-"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004037","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Disturbances in gut microbiota homeostasis may have metabolic consequences with potentially serious clinical manifestations. Diet influences the host\u2019s metabolic health in several ways, either directly or indirectly by modulating the composition and function of gut microbiota. This study investigated the extent to which dietary quality is reflected in gut microbiota diversity in overweight and obese pregnant women at risk for metabolic complications. Dietary quality was measured by a validated index of diet quality (IDQ) and microbiota composition was analyzed using 16SrRNA gene sequencing from 84 women pregnant less than 18 weeks. The alpha diversity, measured as Chao1, observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs), phylogenetic diversity, and the Shannon index were calculated. The IDQ score correlated positively with the Shannon index (rho = 0.319, p = 0.003), but not with the other indexes. The women who had the highest dietary quality (highest IDQ quartile) had higher gut microbiota diversity in all the investigated indexes, when compared to the women with the lowest dietary quality (lowest IDQ quartile; p &lt; 0.032). Consequently, a higher dietary quality was reflected in a higher gut microbiota diversity. The presented approach may aid in devising new tools for dietary counseling aiming at holistic health, as well as in microbiome studies, to control for dietary variance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms20081835","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,4,15]],"date-time":"2019-04-15T11:15:58Z","timestamp":1555326958000},"page":"1835","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":98,"title":["Overall Dietary Quality Relates to Gut Microbiota Diversity and Abundance"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Kirsi","family":"Laitinen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turun yliopisto, 20500   Turku, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kati","family":"Mokkala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turun yliopisto, 20500   Turku, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,4,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1147","DOI":"10.1007\/s00592-017-1056-0","article-title":"Gut microbiota aberrations precede diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus","volume":"54","author":"Mokkala","year":"2017","journal-title":"Acta Diabetol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1186\/s40168-018-0472-x","article-title":"Gestational diabetes is associated with change in the gut microbiota composition in third trimester of pregnancy and postpartum","volume":"15","author":"Crusell","year":"2018","journal-title":"Microbiome"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1614","DOI":"10.1136\/gutjnl-2018-315988","article-title":"Dysbiosis of maternal and neonatal microbiota associated with gestational diabetes mellitus","volume":"67","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Gut"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.1542\/pir.2016-0068","article-title":"Vitamin Excess and Deficiency","volume":"39","author":"Diab","year":"2018","journal-title":"Pediatr. Rev."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1038\/ejcn.2013.177","article-title":"Relation of the Mediterranean diet with the incidence of gestational diabetes","volume":"68","author":"Karamanos","year":"2014","journal-title":"Eur. J. Clin. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"143","article-title":"Association of Changes in Diet Quality with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality","volume":"13","author":"Bhupathiraju","year":"2017","journal-title":"N. Engl. J. Med."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jand.2017.08.024","article-title":"Diet Quality as Assessed by the Healthy Eating Index, Alternate Healthy Eating Index, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Score, and Health Outcomes: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies","volume":"118","author":"Schwingshackl","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Acad. Nutr. Diet"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"569","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jand.2012.12.016","article-title":"Update of the Healthy Eating Index: HEI-2010","volume":"113","author":"Guenther","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Acad. Nutr. Diet"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"794","DOI":"10.1177\/1403494810382476","article-title":"Construction and evaluation of a self-contained index for assessment of diet quality","volume":"38","author":"Kaljonen","year":"2010","journal-title":"Scand. J. Publ. Health"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kong, L.C., Holmes, B.A., Cotillard, A., Habi-Rachedi, F., Brazeilles, R., Gougis, S., Gausser\u00e8s, N., Cani, P.D., Fellahi, S., and Bastard, J.P. (2014). Dietary patterns differently associate with inflammation and gut microbiota in overweight and obese subjects. PLoS ONE, 9.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0109434"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"559","DOI":"10.1038\/nature12820","article-title":"Diet Rapidly and Reproducibly Alters the Human Gut Microbiome","volume":"505","author":"David","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14691","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1005963107","article-title":"Impact of Diet in Shaping Gut Microbiota Revealed by a Comparative Study in Children from Europe and Rural Africa","volume":"107","author":"Cavalieri","year":"2010","journal-title":"Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1979","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2017.01979","article-title":"Diet, Environments, and Gut Microbiota. A Preliminary Investigation in Children Living in Rural and Urban Burkina Faso and Italy","volume":"8","author":"Ramazzotti","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vamanu, E., Gatea, F., and S\u00e2rbu, I. (2018). In Vitro ecological response of the human gut microbiome to bioactive extracts from edible wild mushrooms. Molecules, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules23092128"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"34","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mib.2018.07.003","article-title":"Low diversity gut microbiota dysbiosis: Drivers, functional implications and recovery","volume":"44","author":"Kriss","year":"2018","journal-title":"Curr. Opin. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"541","DOI":"10.1038\/nature12506","article-title":"Richness of human gut microbiome correlates with metabolic markers","volume":"500","author":"Nielsen","year":"2013","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1719","DOI":"10.1111\/obr.12750","article-title":"Role of gut microbiota in chronic low-grade inflammation as potential driver for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: A systematic review of human studies","volume":"19","author":"Kurilshikov","year":"2018","journal-title":"Obes. Rev."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aau8816","article-title":"Preserving microbial diversity","volume":"5","author":"Bello","year":"2018","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1186\/s40168-018-0455-y","article-title":"Use of dietary indices to control for diet in human gut microbiota studies","volume":"6","author":"Bowyer","year":"2018","journal-title":"Microbiome"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"890","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2018.00890","article-title":"Shifts on gut microbiota associated to mediterranean diet adherence and specific dietary intakes on general adult population","volume":"9","author":"Alcantara","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1812","DOI":"10.1136\/gutjnl-2015-309957","article-title":"High-level adherence to a Mediterranean diet beneficially impacts the gut microbiota and associated metabolome","volume":"65","author":"Pellegrini","year":"2016","journal-title":"Gut"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1645","DOI":"10.1017\/S0007114517001593","article-title":"Adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with the gut microbiota pattern and gastrointestinal characteristics in an adult population","volume":"117","author":"Mitsou","year":"2017","journal-title":"Br. J. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12216","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-018-30735-9","article-title":"Changes in the gut microbiota composition during pregnancy in patients with gestational diabetes","volume":"15","author":"Ferrocino","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"343","DOI":"10.1017\/S0007114517002100","article-title":"Dietary intake of fat and fibre according to reference values relates to higher gut microbiota richness in overweight pregnant women","volume":"118","author":"Mokkala","year":"2017","journal-title":"Br. J. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"162021","DOI":"10.1155\/2014\/162021","article-title":"Evidence for the gut microbiota short-chain fatty acids as key pathophysiological molecules improving diabetes","volume":"2014","author":"Puddu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Mediat. Inflamm."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1706","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2016.01706","article-title":"Mucosal prevalence and interactions with the epithelium indicate commensalism of Sutterella spp.","volume":"7","author":"Hiippala","year":"2016","journal-title":"Front. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lundqvist, A., Johansson, I., Wennberg, A., Hultdin, J., H\u00f6gberg, U., Hamberg, K., and Sandstr\u00f6m, H. (2014). Reported dietary intake in early pregnant compared to non-pregnant women\u2014A cross-sectional study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, 14.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12884-014-0373-3"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodres.2017.10.025","article-title":"Whole cereal grains and potential health effects: Involvement of the gut microbiota","volume":"103","author":"Gong","year":"2018","journal-title":"Food Res. Int."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1685","DOI":"10.3945\/jn.109.108191","article-title":"Human gut bacterial communities are altered by addition of cruciferous vegetables to a controlled fruit- and vegetable-free diet","volume":"139","author":"Li","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"470","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2012.07.008","article-title":"Host remodeling of the gut microbiome and metabolic changes during pregnancy","volume":"150","author":"Koren","year":"2012","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11060","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1502875112","article-title":"Temporal and spatial variation of the human microbiota during pregnancy","volume":"112","author":"DiGiulio","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1467","DOI":"10.1101\/gr.236000.118","article-title":"Metagenomic analysis with strain-level resolution reveals fine-scale variation in the human pregnancy microbiome","volume":"28","author":"Goltsman","year":"2018","journal-title":"Genome Res."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"894","DOI":"10.1093\/ajcn\/88.4.894","article-title":"Distinct composition of gut microbiota during pregnancy in overweight and normal-weight women","volume":"88","author":"Collado","year":"2008","journal-title":"Am. J. Clin. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1955","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clnu.2017.12.013","article-title":"Overweight and obesity status in pregnant women are related to intestinal microbiota and serum metabolic and inflammatory profiles","volume":"37","author":"Houttu","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1186\/s40168-017-0332-0","article-title":"Pre-pregnancy weight, gestational weight gain, and the gut microbiota of mothers and their infants","volume":"5","author":"Stanislawski","year":"2017","journal-title":"Microbiome"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2214","DOI":"10.2337\/db16-0278","article-title":"Connections Between the Gut Microbiome and Metabolic Hormones in Early Pregnancy in Overweight and Obese Women","volume":"65","author":"Barrett","year":"2016","journal-title":"Diabetes"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Haro, C., Rangel-Z\u00fa\u00f1iga, O.A., Alcal\u00e1-D\u00edaz, J.F., G\u00f3mez-Delgado, F., P\u00e9rez-Mart\u00ednez, P., Delgado-Lista, J., Quintana-Navarro, G.M., Landa, B.B., Navas-Cort\u00e9s, J.A., and Tena-Sempere, M. (2016). Intestinal microbiota is influenced by gender and body mass index. PLoS ONE, 11.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0154090"},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"Floch, M.H., Ringel, Y.W., and Walker, A. (2017). Chapter 2\u2014Characterizing and Functionally Defining the Gut Microbiota: Methodology and Implications. In Book The Microbiota in Gastrointestinal Pathophysiology. Implications for Human Health, Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Dysbiosis, Elsevier."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1162","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2017.01162","article-title":"Geography, ethnicity or subsistence-specific variations in human microbiome composition and diversity","volume":"8","author":"Gupta","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pellonper\u00e4, O., Mokkala, K., Houttu, N., Vahlberg, T., Koivuniemi, E., Tertti, T., R\u00f6nnemaa, T., and Laitinen, K. (2019). Efficacy of fish oil and\/or probiotic intervention on the incidence of gestational diabetes in an at-risk group of overweight and obese women\u2014A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial. Diabetes Care.","DOI":"10.2337\/dc18-2591"},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"(2019, February 01). Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2012. Integrating nutrition and physical activity. Nordic Council of Ministers, Nord. Available online: https:\/\/norden.diva-portal.org\/smash\/get\/diva2:704251\/FULLTEXT01.pdf."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1694","DOI":"10.3945\/jn.116.235358","article-title":"Gut microbiota richness and composition and dietary intake of overweight pregnant women are related to serum zonulin concentration, a marker for intestinal permeability","volume":"146","author":"Mokkala","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2183","DOI":"10.1007\/s00125-014-3325-6","article-title":"Fermentable fibres condition colon microbiota and promote diabetogenesis in NOD mice","volume":"57","author":"Toivonen","year":"2014","journal-title":"Diabetologia"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gks808","article-title":"Evaluation of general 16S ribosomal RNA gene PCR primers for classical and next-generation sequencing-based diversity studies","volume":"41","author":"Klindworth","year":"2013","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kuczynski, J., Stombaugh, J., Walters, W.A., Gonz\u00e1lez, A., Caporaso, J.G., and Knight, R. (2011). Using QIIME to analyze 16S rRNA gene sequences from microbial communities. Curr. Protoc. Bioinform.","DOI":"10.1002\/0471250953.bi1007s36"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1574-6976.2008.00111.x","article-title":"Species divergence and the measurement of microbial diversity","volume":"32","author":"Lozupone","year":"2008","journal-title":"FEMS Microbiol. Rev."}],"container-title":["International Journal of Molecular Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1422-0067\/20\/8\/1835\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T12:45:15Z","timestamp":1760186715000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1422-0067\/20\/8\/1835"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,4,13]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,4]]}},"alternative-id":["ijms20081835"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijms20081835","relation":{},"ISSN":["1422-0067"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1422-0067","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,4,13]]}}}