Developmental trajectory of the healthy human gut microbiota during the first 5 years of life

The Publication

A new-born is thought of as sterile when in utero and acquires bacteria from the mother during delivery. The development of the gut microbiota throughout infancy is dynamic, and many factors affect the composition of bacteria, mode of birth, antibiotics, host factors, breast feeding. What is not known is how much these factors affect the gut microbiota later in adulthood.

The study analysed the microbiota of 471 children from birth to five years, collecting samples at different time points. The state of their mother’s microbiota at birth was also assessed. The microbiota of the children was compared to an adult population within the same country.

Results showed that multiple bacteria, which have been suggested as key for human health, are acquired later in childhood and are not in abundance by the age of 5 years old. There was no trend in how a microbiota develops, but an individualised trajectory, highlighting the importance of microbiota dynamics.

Our Response

Evidence highlights the importance of microbiota for overall health. Understanding the time points at when this develops could be crucial to our understanding of predicting illness, or mental-health related conditions at key time points. From the work we have done at Think Through Nutrition it would be interesting to see if the state of their microbiome in childhood predicts good or bad behavioural outcomes later in life.