The Intestinal Microbiome in Early Life: Health and Disease

Abstract

Human microbial colonization begins at birth and continues to develop and modulate in species abundance for about 3 years, until the microbiota becomes adult-like. During the same time period, children experience significant developmental changes that influence their health status as well as their immune system. An ever-expanding number of articles associate several diseases with early-life imbalances of the gut microbiota, also referred to as gut microbial dysbiosis. Whether early-life dysbiosis precedes and plays a role in disease pathogenesis, or simply originates from the disease process itself is a question that is beginning to be answered in a few diseases, including IBD, obesity, and asthma. This review describes the gut microbiome structure and function during the formative first years of life, as well as the environmental factors that determine its composition. It also aims to discuss the recent advances in understanding the role of the early-life gut microbiota in the development of immune-mediated, metabolic, and neurological diseases. A greater understanding of how the early-life gut microbiota impacts our immune development could potentially lead to novel microbial-derived therapies that target disease prevention at an early age.

The human gut microbiome as source of innovation for health: Which physiological and therapeutic outcomes could we expect?

“…Sterile in utero, the newborn gut is immediately colonized at birth by the maternal vaginal microbiota and environmental microbes in contact with the skin. Most influenced by numerous factors such as birth mode, perinatal treatments, early nutrition and overall care, the newborn intestinal microbiota diversifies to reach a climax composition within three years [3]. Thus, recent trends to increase the number of cesarean births and promote a nearsterile environment for babies (as for instance, sterilized milk bottles) are hindering the process of development of host-microbes symbiosis.…”

CauseMap: Fast inference of causality from complex time series

“…Dysbiosis in the gut has been implicated in, e.g. irritable bowel disease (IBD), obesity, diabetes, asthma, anxiety, and depression (Foster & McVey Neufeld, 2013;Arrieta et al, 2014).…”

Extending in vitro digestion models to specific human populations: Perspectives, practical tools and bio-relevant information

“…Introduction of solid foods into the infant diet leads to a marked shift in microbial composition with an increase in clostridial species and a decrease in Bifidobacterium and Enterobacteriaceae. Many factors may influence the development of the gut microbiota in infants, such as mode of delivery, type of maternal diet, geographical location and consumption of antibiotics (Arrieta, Stiemsma, Amenyogbe, Brown, & Finlay, 2014).…”