Microbiome instability linked to poor growth in kids
Malnutrition is a leading cause of death in children under age 5, and nearly 150 million children globally under this age have stunted growth from lack of nutrition. Although an inadequate diet is a major contributor, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found over a decade ago that dysfunctional communities of gut microbes play an important role in triggering malnutrition.
Now, in work done in collaboration with the Salk Institute and UC San Diego, WashU Medicine researchers have discovered that toddlers in Malawi — among the places hardest hit by malnutrition — who had a fluctuating gut microbiome ...