Working to optimise maternal gut health during pregnancy

IT is apt that this Tipperary-born innovator, academic and business person has come full circle – this is a woman who looks for roundedness throughout her work, who wants to know the full picture.

Her perseverance has paid off in the form of an exciting new technology that she is now promoting through the SPRINT programme in UCC.

Gut Health

FemmeBiome is a probiotic supplement to be taken daily by pregnant women. These carefully selected probiotics reduce stress and optimise maternal gut and vaginal health during pregnancy.

“Stress reduction has a huge impact on a mother,” the passionate academic explains, “and this impacts the baby. Higher levels of stress with reduce her chance of breastfeeding and increase the likelihood of her experiencing depression after birth.”

By minding a mother’s gut health, Dr O’Mahony explains, we can mind her overall health and the health of her baby.

She meets me with her son Daniel in tow, a gorgeous little boy who shares his mum’s reassuring smile. She brings up her own childhood too.

“I was always a nervous child and later a nervous student. I was stressed from childhood and I always knew that about myself, I just didn’t know what to call it. 

I would say now that it was a kind of social anxiety. Back when I was studying in 1999 there was far less openness around mental health.

From the Brain To The Gut

This early experience informed her desire to study neuroscience through which she learned the anatomy of the nervous system and came to understand the diseases of the nervous system.

She went on to complete a Masters in Neuropharmacology in Galway. The course was very focused on the brain and she wanted to go deeper, to truly understand the causes of diseases in order to target them with treatment.

Searching for this roundedness in her knowledge base, she was delighted to get a Marie Curie fellowship in Maastricht in the Netherlands.

“In Netherlands we did a very early study testing how an antidepressants taken during pregnancy might impact the wellbeing and brain development of a baby.”

This proved significant. Professor Brian Leonard, who had facilitated her going to Maastricht, then introduced her to Professor Ted Dinan, the Head of Psychiatry in CUH.

“Everything was still very focused on the brain and I knew from my own body that there was more to be done on it; I just didn’t know how or why. Professor Dinan asked me to complete a PhD and set up his lab. He was incredibly kind and supportive and was truly ahead of his time in his interest in a baby’s gut health.”

Dr O’Mahony explains that back in 2004 people thought they were really off the wall.

“They asked us why we were interested in looking at baby poo! But we were growing in our understanding that stress coming from the brain affects the gut and vice versa. It is a bio-directional communication pathway.”

At this moment, Daniel asks to go to the toilet. Handing him the key, she nods towards him, “Toileting should be just like that. If you have a very healthy gut you don’t think about it. The gut is a nervous system of its own but it is governed by our unconscious brain.”

By 2009 her interest in the gut was more accepted. At this point she understood the whole system at a deeper level. She had, through her perseverance and the trust she had in her own body and experience, figured out that it’s all related: the stress system is linked to the immune system and all relates the bacteria in your gut.

Maternal Health

There was still a missing link she soon discovered.

“We were not focusing enough on the mum. Pregnancy is a natural stress test. It puts stress on the body and there is the stress of breastfeeding, the birth, all of it. I realised that maternal health is a better place to start than looking at the baby. Mind mum and you will end up minding baby. We had to get to the source.”

Dr O’Mahony carried out a study that showed that sub clinical levels of stress affected the mother’s gut substantially and this in turn could affect things like placenta growth.

I am not talking about women who you would send to a professional for help. These were women worried about money or the birth or their relationships.

She explains that this kind of stress may reduce a woman’s likelihood of breastfeeding: “Breast feeding is best in terms of the gut. Breast milk primes the immune system, stress system and brain. Human milk. It is also really important for the woman. We also know it reduced breast cancer.”

But it makes sense, Dr O’Mahony explains, that a stressed mother won’t want to breastfeed.

“It is another way to fail and if a public health nurse is commenting on a baby losing weight, which breastfed babies often do, the mother will see that as another failure. Of course a new mum, especially a first time mum, would want someone else to carry the weight of feeding her. She has just done something she never did before, giving birth, and now she’s expected to do another thing, breastfeeding. She needs a great deal of support.”

Dr O’Mahony believes passionately in helping women to be healthy and confident and to feel powerful.

“Women have a right to feel powerful. They are growing and birthing babies. Too often they are not given an opportunity to feel entitled to look after themselves. This product will look after their gut first – the rest will follow.”

Sprint

Dr O’Mahony was introduced to Myriam Cronin, Head of SPRINT about a year and half ago.

“It was so lovely to be mentored by a woman. My mum was my first mentor. She was always my rock, so I really appreciated having Miriam guide me. She was so expressive about wanting me on the programme. She is professional but also warm and supportive.”

Another full picture emerged for Dr O’Mahony.

“She knew I was an academic with a scientific brain so she wanted to teach me the commercial and business side of things.” “She taught us everything from writing funding applications to understanding the legal elements. She brought me from a tiny seed to having three flourishing leaves: the scientific, the business and the academic leaves. Before, I was torn in different directions but SPRINT brought it all together.”

The Future

Dr O’Mahony is currently looking for a commercialisation fund from Enterprise Ireland to develop her technology, FemmeBiome further.

“My hope is to develop sex specific oral supplements for women throughout their lives. My work is all about reducing stress and managing oestrogen metabolism. This is hugely important during menopause for example. Selling this product will mean I can generate the revenue to continue in my research.”

She sees America as an obvious market as well as Asia.

Gut health is a huge part of the culture in Asia. They produce gentle foods for the bowel. When I was there for two days my gut never felt healthier. That is certainly a potential market.

For a woman who looks for the big picture in everything, it makes sense that she’s ready to take on the world.