Impact of Traditional Fermented Rice-Water on Maternal Nutrition in Odisha, India

Manoja Kumar Das of the INCLEN Trust International in India will determine the optimal dose of traditional fermented rice-water (pakhala/torani) to improve the nutritional status and the gut and vaginal microbiomes in women of reproductive age in Odisha, India, to promote maternal health. They will provide different rice types and fermentation protocols for households to prepare torani and also prepare it in the laboratory and evaluate its stability and nutritional and microbial content. A prospective cohort study will be performed to determine the minimum daily dose needed to improve the diversity of the gut microbiota in eight to ten adult females. This will then be used in a pilot test with 200 adult reproductive-age women to evaluate the effects of a daily dose over six months on gut and vaginal microbiome diversity, nutritional profiles, and inflammatory markers.