Exploring the use of exhaled breath profiling for non-invasive monitoring of cognitive functioning in children: a pilot study
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Updated: Jun 15, 2025
Breath Collection from Children for Disease Biomarker Discovery
Published on: February 14, 2019
Joris Meurs1, Ben Henderson1, Claudia van Dun2
1Department of Analytical Chemistry and Chemometrics, Life Science Trace Detection Laboratory, Institute of Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Insights
Breath analysis reveals gut microbiome metabolites linked to better executive functions in children. Certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) indicate impaired cognitive control and inflammation, offering insights into gut-brain interactions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Metabolomics
- Microbiome Research
Background:
- Executive functions, including attention and inhibition, are crucial for cognitive development in children.
- Optimal brain development necessitates adequate macronutrient intake and is influenced by gut-brain interactions.
- Metabolomics provides insights into metabolites affecting cognitive function and gut-brain axis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the use of breathomics for assessing associations between exhaled metabolites and executive functioning in children.
- To explore the potential of non-invasive breath analysis in understanding gut-brain interactions related to cognitive skills.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 31 children aged 8-10 years.
- Assessed executive functioning using the Eriksen flanker task.
- Analyzed breath samples using proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) and statistical methods (PLS, sMC) to identify predictive metabolites.
Main Results:
- Gut microbiome metabolites (methane, ethanol, butyric acid) in breath correlated with improved executive functioning.
- Isoprene in breath was associated with reduced executive functioning.
- Elevated inflammatory markers (ethylene, acetaldehyde) linked to diminished cognitive control and increased error rates, potentially related to gut microbial taxa and inflammation.
Conclusions:
- Exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) show promise as a non-invasive tool for evaluating gut-brain interactions in children.
- Breathomics can provide valuable biomarkers for executive functioning and related gut-brain axis dynamics.
- This proof-of-concept study highlights a novel approach to assessing cognitive health in pediatric populations.
Introduction:
Childhood is a critical period for the development of executive functioning skills, including selective attention and inhibitory control, which are essential for cognitive development. Optimal brain development during this time requires appropriate levels of macronutrient intake. Metabolomics can offer valuable insights into which metabolites cognitive functioning and the underlying gut-brain interactions.
Objectives:
This study aimed to explore to use of breathomics to investigate associations between exhaled metabolites and executive functioning in children.
Methods:
Children (8-10 years; N = 31) were recruited via flyers at schools and after-school care. The assessment of executive functioning was done using Eriksen flanker task. Breath samples were collected in Tedlar® bags and analyzed with proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). On-breath peaks were selected and subjected to partial least squares (PLS) regression. Significance multivariate correlation (sMC) was used afterwards to select metabolites bearing predictive power towards executive functioning.
Results:
Gut microbiome-related metabolites (methane, ethanol, and butyric acid) present in exhaled breath were associated with an improved executive functioning, whereas isoprene was linked to reduced executive functioning. Additionally, increased levels of inflammatory markers, ethylene and acetaldehyde, were associated with a higher compatibility effect in error rates, suggesting diminished cognitive control. These VOCs were putatively linked with specific gut microbial taxa; for instance, reduced Bacteroidetes abundance (associated with methane production) is associated with decreased inhibitory control, while Enterobacteriaceae were linked to lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation which is also a process that causes increased ethylene production.
Conclusion:
This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that VOCs in exhaled breath could serve as a promising non-invasive tool for assessing gut-brain interactions related to executive functioning in children.
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