5. Conclusions
This pilot trial produced valuable information. The intervention was tested with 27 pregnant women residing in rural Michigan. Retention was high at 93%, with 85% of participants reporting high satisfaction. Among the parameters compared across or within study arms, no significant differences were observed in dietary intake, plasma carotenoid levels, urinary metabolites, or gut microbiota composition. However, this test case can be used to effectively refine practical food-based interventions so they can be tested in larger, longer studies using, for example, a factorial design to test the effects of pregnancy diet and/or postpartum diet of breastfeeding moms on the establishment of the infant microbiome.