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Ethnic and diet-related differences in the healthy infant microbiome
Jennifer C Stearns1,2, Michael A Zulyniak3, Russell J de Souza4
1Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. stearns@mcmaster.ca.
Insights
Infant gut microbiome composition at one year is influenced by ethnicity and breastfeeding. South Asian infants had more lactic acid bacteria, while white Caucasian infants had more Clostridiales.
Area of Science:
- Microbiome research
- Infant health
- Human gut microbiota
Background:
- The infant gut microbiome is established rapidly after birth and is dynamic during the first year.
- Microbiome composition is a potential predictor of long-term health outcomes.
- A stable gut microbiome may take 1-3 years to develop.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how maternal and early infancy exposures shape the infant gut microbiota.
- To determine if infant gut microbiota composition differs by ethnicity and breastfeeding status.
- To account for variations in maternal and infant exposures.
Main Methods:
- Collected stool samples from 173 white Caucasian and 182 South Asian infants at one year of age.
- Analyzed gut microbiota composition in relation to ethnicity and breastfeeding.
- Controlled for factors like maternal antibiotic use, gestational diabetes, diet, and infant growth.
Main Results:
- Ethnicity and infant feeding independently influence the infant gut microbiome at one year.
- Ethnic differences were observed in alpha diversity.
- South Asian infants showed higher abundance of lactic acid bacteria, while white Caucasian infants had higher abundance of Clostridiales.
Conclusions:
- Infant gut microbiome is shaped by ethnicity and breastfeeding in the first year.
- Ethnic variations in the microbiome may be linked to maternal and infant dietary differences.
- Further prospective studies are needed to link these differences to cardiometabolic outcomes.
Background:
The infant gut is rapidly colonized by microorganisms soon after birth, and the composition of the microbiota is dynamic in the first year of life. Although a stable microbiome may not be established until 1 to 3 years after birth, the infant gut microbiota appears to be an important predictor of health outcomes in later life.
Methods:
We obtained stool at one year of age from 173 white Caucasian and 182 South Asian infants from two Canadian birth cohorts to gain insight into how maternal and early infancy exposures influence the development of the gut microbiota. We investigated whether the infant gut microbiota differed by ethnicity (referring to groups of people who have certain racial, cultural, religious, or other traits in common) and by breastfeeding status, while accounting for variations in maternal and infant exposures (such as maternal antibiotic use, gestational diabetes, vegetarianism, infant milk diet, time of introduction of solid food, infant birth weight, and weight gain in the first year).
Results:
We demonstrate that ethnicity and infant feeding practices independently influence the infant gut microbiome at 1 year, and that ethnic differences can be mapped to alpha diversity as well as a higher abundance of lactic acid bacteria in South Asians and a higher abundance of genera within the order Clostridiales in white Caucasians.
Conclusions:
The infant gut microbiome is influenced by ethnicity and breastfeeding in the first year of life. Ethnic differences in the gut microbiome may reflect maternal/infant dietary differences and whether these differences are associated with future cardiometabolic outcomes can only be determined after prospective follow-up.