Abstract
Gut and oral microbiota perturbations have been observed in obese adults and adolescents; less is known about their influence on weight gain in young children. Here we analyzed the gut and oral microbiota of 226 two-year-olds with 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Weight and length were measured at seven time points and used to identify children with rapid infant weight gain (a strong risk factor for childhood obesity), and to derive growth curves with innovative Functional Data Analysis (FDA) techniques. We showed that growth curves were associated negatively with diversity, and positively with the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio, of the oral microbiota. We also demonstrated an association between the gut microbiota and child growth, even after controlling for the effect of diet on the microbiota. Lastly, we identified several bacterial genera that were associated with child growth patterns. These results suggest that by the age of two, the oral microbiota of children with rapid infant weight gain may have already begun to establish patterns often seen in obese adults. They also suggest that the gut microbiota at age two, while strongly influenced by diet, does not harbor obesity signatures many researchers identified in later life stages.
Highlights
A more informative phenotype than a binary outcome and may increase statistical power in detecting associations between weight gain and microbiota
In this report we present results from comprehensive analyses of microbiota composition with a wealth of clinical, anthropometric, demographic, and behavioral variables collected on 236 mother-child dyads enrolled in the Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) study[53]
This conclusion was supported by sophisticated Functional Data Analysis (FDA) techniques leveraging longitudinal information on weight gain in the first two years after birth, and confirmed by standard statistical tests based on a binary phenotype
Summary
A more informative phenotype than a binary outcome (stunted vs. normal, or obese vs. normal) and may increase statistical power in detecting associations between weight gain and microbiota. Differences in gut microbiota due to delivery mode might be erased by the mounting effects of other factors as early as six weeks after birth[35]. Our goals for this study were to: (a) model children growth curves and examine their associations with oral and gut microbiota; (b) assess whether oral and gut microbiotas differ between children with rapid vs non-rapid infant weight gain; (c) investigate whether there is any relationship between a mother’s oral microbiota and her child’s weight trajectory, and (d) analyze whether diet and other factors have an impact on oral and gut microbiota and/or the growth of the child. We pioneered the use of functional data analysis (FDA) techniques in microbiota studies; these techniques allow us to fully leverage the complex, multifaceted phenotypic dynamics of the surveyed individuals
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