-
1.
The Gut‒Breast Axis: Programming Health for Life.
Rodríguez, JM, Fernández, L, Verhasselt, V
Nutrients. 2021;(2)
Abstract
The gut is a pivotal organ in health and disease. The events that take place in the gut during early life contribute to the programming, shaping and tuning of distant organs, having lifelong consequences. In this context, the maternal gut plays a quintessence in programming the mammary gland to face the nutritional, microbiological, immunological, and neuroendocrine requirements of the growing infant. Subsequently, human colostrum and milk provides the infant with an impressive array of nutrients and bioactive components, including microbes, immune cells, and stem cells. Therefore, the axis linking the maternal gut, the breast, and the infant gut seems crucial for a correct infant growth and development. The aim of this article is not to perform a systematic review of the human milk components but to provide an insight of their extremely complex interactions, which render human milk a unique functional food and explain why this biological fluid still truly remains as a scientific enigma.
-
2.
Maternal Gestational Immune Response and Autism Spectrum Disorder Phenotypes at 7 Years of Age in the Seychelles Child Development Study.
Irwin, JL, Yeates, AJ, Mulhern, MS, McSorley, EM, Strain, JJ, Watson, GE, Grzesik, K, Thurston, SW, Love, TM, Smith, TH, et al
Molecular neurobiology. 2019;(7):5000-5008
-
-
Free full text
-
Abstract
Findings from observational and experimental studies suggest that maternal inflammation during pregnancy is associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We report the first study in humans to examine this association in a large prospective birth cohort. We studied 788 mother-child pairs from the Seychelles Child Development Study Nutrition Cohort 2. Thirteen inflammatory markers were measured in mothers' serum at 28 weeks' gestation, along with the sum of T-helper 1 (Th1) and 2 (Th2) cytokines. The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) were administered at age 7 years to obtain information on ASD phenotype. We evaluated associations between maternal inflammatory markers and ASD phenotype using multivariable linear regression. For the SCQ, increased MCP-1 (a chemokine that is upregulated in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines) was associated with fewer ASD symptoms (B = - 0.40; 95% CI = - 0.72, - 0.09). Increased IL-4 (a cytokine that is typically associated with an enhanced anti-inflammatory response) was associated with more ASD symptoms (B = 2.10; 95% CI = 0.78, 3.43). For the SRS, higher concentrations of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 were associated with fewer ASD symptoms (B = - 0.18; 95% CI = - 0.35, - 0.01), but only after removal of outliers. No associations were observed for other markers. These findings suggest that a shift in the maternal immune balance during pregnancy may be associated with ASD symptomatology. While the use of well-established measures that capture ASD phenotypic variability is a strength of the study, measurement of peripheral immune markers only once during gestation is a limitation. Our results should be confirmed using maternal immune markers measured throughout gestation.
-
3.
Influence of AIDS antiretroviral therapy on the growth pattern.
Golucci, APBS, Marson, FAL, Valente, MFF, Branco, MM, Prado, CC, Nogueira, RJN
Jornal de pediatria. 2019;(1):7-17
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Human immunodeficiency virus infection can result in the early impairment of anthropometric indicators in children and adolescents. However, combined antiretroviral therapy has improved, in addition to the immune response and viral infection, the weight and height development in infected individuals. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the effect of combined antiretroviral on the growth development of human immunodeficiency virus infected children and adolescents. SOURCE OF DATA A systematic review was performed. In the study, the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) strategy was used as the eligibility criterion. The MEDLINE-PubMed and LILACS databases were searched using these descriptors: HIV, children, growth, antiretroviral therapy. The objective was defined by the population, intervention, comparison/control, and outcome (PICO) technique. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied for study selection. SYNTHESIS OF DATA Of the 549 studies indexed in MEDLINE-PubMed and LILACS, 73 were read in full, and 44 were included in the review (33 showed a positive impact of combined antiretroviral therapy on weight/height development, ten on weight gain, and one on height gain in children and adolescents infected with human immunodeficiency virus). However, the increase in growth was not enough to normalize the height of infected children when compared to children of the same age and gender without human immunodeficiency virus infection. CONCLUSIONS Combined antiretroviral therapy, which is known to play a role in the improvement of viral and immunological markers, may influence in the weight and height development in children infected with human immunodeficiency virus. The earlier the infection diagnosis and, concomitantly, of malnutrition and the start of combined antiretroviral therapy, the lower the growth impairment when compared to healthy children.
-
4.
The neonatal window of opportunity-early priming for life.
Renz, H, Adkins, BD, Bartfeld, S, Blumberg, RS, Farber, DL, Garssen, J, Ghazal, P, Hackam, DJ, Marsland, BJ, McCoy, KD, et al
The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology. 2018;(4):1212-1214
-
-
Free full text
-
Abstract
The concept of the neonatal window of opportunity assigns the early postnatal period a critical role for lifelong host-microbial and immune homeostasis. It is supported by epidemiological evidence that links postnatal environmental exposure with disease susceptibility and mechanisms in the neonate host that facilitate the postnatal transposition, establish a stable microbiome, and promote immune maturation. During the conference on “The neonatal window of opportunity – early priming for life,” postnatal micro-biome and immune maturation, epidemiological evidence, and fundamental mechanisms were discussed to identify new targets for future preventive and interventional measures. From December 5 to 7, 2016, the Herrenhausen Conference “The neonatal window of opportunity – early priming for life” took place at Hannover, Germany, sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation. The concept of the “neonatal window of opportunity,” that is, a critical nonredundant time frame in a newborn’s life during which environmental factors drive immune and tissue maturation and influence the susceptibility to immune-mediated and other diseases in adult life, was discussed.
-
5.
Following the World Health Organization's Recommendation of Exclusive Breastfeeding to 6 Months of Age Does Not Impact the Growth of Rural Gambian Infants.
Eriksen, KG, Johnson, W, Sonko, B, Prentice, AM, Darboe, MK, Moore, SE
The Journal of nutrition. 2017;(2):248-255
-
-
Free full text
-
Abstract
BACKGROUND The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 mo of life. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to assess the benefit of EBF to age 6 mo on growth in a large sample of rural Gambian infants at high risk of undernutrition. METHODS Infants with growth monitoring from birth to 2 y of age (n = 756) from the ENID (Early Nutrition and Immune Development) trial were categorized as exclusively breastfed if only breast milk and no other liquids or foods were given. EBF status was entered into confounder-adjusted multilevel models to test associations with growth trajectories by using >11,000 weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age (LAZ), and weight-for-length (WLZ) z score observations. RESULTS Thirty-two percent of infants were exclusively breastfed to age 6 mo. The mean age of discontinuation of EBF was 5.2 mo, and growth faltering started at ∼3.5 mo of age. Some evidence for a difference in WAZ and WHZ was found between infants who were exclusively breastfed to age 6 mo (EBF-6) and those who were not (nEBF-6), at 6 and 12 mo of age, with EBF-6 children having a higher mean z score. The differences in z scores between the 2 groups were small in magnitude (at 6 mo of age: 0.147 WAZ; 95% CI: -0.001, 0.293 WAZ; 0.189 WHZ; 95% CI: 0.038, 0.341 WHZ). No evidence for a difference between EBF-6 and nEBF-6 infants was observed for LAZ at any time point (6, 12, and 24 mo of age). Furthermore, a higher mean WLZ at 3 mo of age was associated with a subsequent higher mean age at discontinuation of EBF, which implied reverse causality in this setting (coefficient: 0.060; 95% CI: 0.008, 0.120). CONCLUSION This study suggests that EBF to age 6 mo has limited benefit to the growth of rural Gambian infants. This trial was registered at http://www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN49285450.
-
6.
Nutritional Deficiencies, the Absence of Information and Caregiver Shortcomings: A Qualitative Analysis of Infant Feeding Practices in Rural China.
Yue, A, Marsh, L, Zhou, H, Medina, A, Luo, R, Shi, Y, Zhang, L, Kenny, K, Rozelle, S
PloS one. 2016;(4):e0153385
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Development during the first two years of life is critical and has a lasting impact on a child's health. Poor infant and child nutrition can lead to deficiencies in essential micronutrients, which may cause a weakened immune system and lasting effects on children's growth and development. Recent studies in rural Shaanxi Province found an anemia prevalence of 54.3% among rural children aged six to twelve months. While new large-scale, quantitative research has begun to catalogue the extent of child malnutrition and anemia, no effort has yet been made to look more closely at the potential reasons for rural children's nutritional deficiencies through qualitative analysis. This study aims to elucidate some of the fundamental causes of poor complementary feeding practices that may lead to anemia among children in rural Shaanxi Province, China. METHODOLOGY We interviewed sixty caregivers participating in a large survey on child health and nutrition. We conducted three waves of interviews with children's primary caregivers in seventeen rural villages within four nationally-designated poverty counties in the southern part of Shaanxi Province. RESULTS The qualitative analysis reveals that poor complementary feeding practices are common across our sample. Information gathered from our interviews suggests that complementary feeding practices are impeded by two constraints: absence of understanding topics related to infant health and nutrition under caregivers, as well as inadequate sources of information on these topics. Poverty does not appear to constrain child feeding practices. CONCLUSION Our results uncover lack of proper knowledge on infant and child nutrition among rural caregivers in China. This situation causes them to fail incorporating micronutrient rich foods in their children's diet. Age-appropriate complementary feeding can stimulate children's physical and cognitive development, but in its absence it leads to iron-deficiency anemia. We suggest that steps be taken to educate caregivers to improve complementary feeding of their infants and children.
-
7.
The Infant Microbiome: Implications for Infant Health and Neurocognitive Development.
Yang, I, Corwin, EJ, Brennan, PA, Jordan, S, Murphy, JR, Dunlop, A
Nursing research. 2016;(1):76-88
-
-
Free full text
-
Abstract
BACKGROUND Beginning at birth, the microbes in the gut perform essential duties related to the digestion and metabolism of food, the development and activation of the immune system, and the production of neurotransmitters that affect behavior and cognitive function. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this review are to (a) provide a brief overview of the microbiome and the "microbiome-gut-brain axis"; (b) discuss factors known to affect the composition of the infant microbiome: mode of delivery, antibiotic exposure, and infant-feeding patterns; and (c) present research priorities for nursing science and clinical implications for infant health and neurocognitive development. DISCUSSION The gut microbiome influences immunological, endocrine, and neural pathways and plays an important role in infant development. Several factors influence colonization of the infant gut microbiome. Different microbial colonization patterns are associated with vaginal versus surgical birth, exposure to antibiotics, and infant-feeding patterns. Because of extensive physiological influence, infant microbial colonization patterns have the potential to impact physical and neurocognitive development and life course disease risk. Understanding these influences will inform newborn care and parental education.
-
8.
An impact assessment of the Child Growth, Development and Care Program in the Caribbean Region of Colombia.
Padilla, Ade J, Trujillo, JC
Cadernos de saude publica. 2015;(10):2099-109
Abstract
This article aims to assess the impact of the Child Growth, Development and Care Program in the Caribbean region of Colombia by analyzing variables such as maternal childcare practices and indicators of the nutritional status and health of children under the age of five. To this end, the authors used the quasi-experimental technique Propensity Score Matching. Positive impacts included a decrease in acute diarrheal disease, and an increase in immunization and seeking treatment for acute respiratory infection or fever symptoms. However, the program had little influence on chronic and acute malnutrition in the region.