Three distinct stages in infant microbiome development identified

[Northerner]

In the largest clinical microbiome study in infants reported to date, a team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine explored the sequence of microbial colonization in the infant gut through age 4 and found distinct stages of development in the microbiome that were associated with early life exposures. Published in the journal Nature, their report and an accompanying report led by the Broad Institute are the result of extensive analysis of data collected from a cohort of participants involved in the TEDDY diabetes study.

The TEDDY study (The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young) study has been collecting data for 10 years with the goal of understanding what triggers type 1 diabetes in children at increased genetic risk for the disease.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181024131304.htm

 

[mikeyB]

Interesting. I assume they’ll keep looking, it’s easy these days to get funding for microbiome studies.

Next up, all us T1s who developed it in mid life.🙂

 

[trophywench]

Medical science proceeds very slowly, doesn't it? In August 1972 my mother was asked a number of questions about my birth and feeding and we were both 'grilled' about my history of 'gastric' upsets. I don't know whether Kidderminster hospital was a bit lucky since their Diabetes consultant just happened to be a teaching professor at Birmingham Medical School, or whether this was utterly normal!

 

[mikeyB]

It’s long been known that the onset of T1 can be triggered by infections, nearly always viral. Even in prehistoric times like 1972 they’d noticed that.