Abstract
BackgroundThe 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.MethodsWe 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).ResultsWe 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.ConclusionsThe 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.
Highlights
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
South Asians are people whose ancestors originate from the Indian subcontinent and they have among the Stearns et al Genome Medicine (2017) 9:32 highest rates of type 2 diabetes and premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the world
In this paper we investigate the associations of ethnicity and early life exposures with the gut microbiome among 1-year-old infants born and living in Canada while accounting for a diverse set of covariates that represent dietary differences as well as other exposures throughout infancy
Summary
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. Microbial colonization of the infant gut proceeds through infancy and establishment of an adult-like microbiome is estimated to occur within the first 3 years [4]. There is preliminary evidence that gut microbial composition in adults and children varies by age [4, 19], dietary intake [20, 21], ethnicity, geography [4, 22], and adoption of western lifestyles [19, 23]. In this paper we investigate the associations of ethnicity and early life exposures with the gut microbiome among 1-year-old infants born and living in Canada while accounting for a diverse set of covariates that represent dietary differences as well as other exposures throughout infancy. This study explores the effect of ethnicity separately from region and provides a preliminary look at effects of ethnicity on the gut microbiota in early life
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