Effect of Soymilk-Burkina Intake on Gut Microbiome and Nutritional Status of Ghanaian Women

Mary Glover-Amengor of the Food Research Institute in Ghana will investigate whether drinking soymilk-burkina, a Ghanaian indigenous fermented milk and millet beverage (smoothie), improves the nutritional status and gut health of women of reproductive age living in the Volta and Oti regions of Ghana. They will produce the soymilk-burkina and test it for bacterial and fungal content and consumer acceptability. They will also recruit 30 pregnant and non-pregnant women and perform a randomized controlled trial to test the effect of daily consumption of 330ml soymilk-burkina over six months. Monthly blood and fecal samples will be collected during trial, and two months after, to analyze nutritional status, inflammation biomarkers and parasites. The gut microbiome will also be analyzed using culture-based assays and next generation sequencing.