Month: February 2018

The gut microbiome: a trigger for asthma in childhood?

By Rachele Invernizzi

The human microbiome is composed of approximately 100 trillion bacteria and our intestinal tract is where the majority of these bacteria reside. The gut microbiota and their metabolic products exist in a dynamic state, which varies throughout the lifetime of the individual. This is particularly true during the first 18 months of life as the gastrointestinal tract becomes colonised and communities of bacteria form in various niches throughout the gut. There is a growing appreciation that the gut microbiota plays a vital role in host physiology as well as in the pathophysiology of several disorders, including asthma.

The primary objective of this study (1) was to phenotype the gut colonisation patterns during the first year of life and the associations of these patterns with the later risk of asthma in a prospective cohort of 700 children.