Tag : Infancy

Washington: A recent study has discovered significant connections between the gut microbiome and eczema in infancy, laying the groundwork for the prospective prevention and treatment of eczema by gut microbiota regulation. The findings of the study were published in mSystems, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. “The problem of eczema is increasing, and our study shows it could be a result of unwanted changes in the gut bacterial content. The first year of life could be a critical period to restore the gut bacteria to a more desirable composition,” said the study’s principal investigator Paul Chan, M.D., professor of microbiology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. Dr Chan and colleagues invited pregnant women who were close to term to participate in the new trial. They gathered data on their health, lifestyle, and events throughout pregnancy and delivery. The researchers visited the women after their babies were born and collected information about their diet, health, and medicines. The researchers set up follow-up clinics to check on the newborns' health and any eczema issues. The researchers sequenced 713 stool samples collected at nine time periods from birth to three years of age to characterise the development and determinants of the gut microbiome in a cohort of 112 term Chinese children. The researchers revealed alterations in the composition and alpha and beta diversity of the gut microbiota across the first 3 years of life. They identified mode of delivery, feeding mode and intrapartum antibiotics as the major determinants of the early-life gut microbiome, the effects of all of which persisted up to 12 months. Importantly, by conducting a nested case-control s ...