Did you know that young babies and kids who have a more mature and diversified variety of bacteria living in their guts have a lower risk of developing wheeze or asthma as a result of allergic reactions? According to the findings of a recent study, it is quite spot on. When a baby is born, they already have microbiota in their stomachs that they receive from their mothers. This microbiota assists the body in producing vitamins and strengthens the immune system. How wonderful!
The researchers were able to detect and characterize the microbiota in the stomach by using a method called DNA sequencing. They did DNA sequencing on children at random and used that information to determine something known as microbiota-by-age Z-score (MAZs). This is a mathematical measure of the development of the kid’s gut microbiota. For the purpose of the study, the researchers chose 323 children and examined the bacteria that were present in the fecal samples taken from them at one month, six months, and one year after birth.
Our studies showed that a more mature infant gut microbiota at one year of age was associated with a lower chance of developing food allergies and asthma in childhood; […] We then hypothesized that advanced maturation of the infant gut microbiota in early life is associated with decreased risk of allergy-related wheeze in later childhood, explained Dr. Yuan Gao, a research fellow at Deakin University, Geelong in Australia.
The scientists requested the parents to report to them at the one-year and four-year postnatal evaluations regarding whether or not their kids suffered from allergy-related congestion or asthma in the previous 12 months. Researchers will conduct a new clinical trial in which they will enroll a total of two thousand children from the countries of Australia and New Zealand. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not administering a combination of dead bacteria to young children and having them take it orally may protect the children from wheezing disorders or asthma by enhancing their immune system’s resistance to viral infections.
