On the Impact of Undernutrition and Malnutrition on the Microbiome

The development and composition of the microbiome, i.e. the individual, specific entirety of all microorganisms present in particular in the gastrointestinal tract and on the skin, also depend on our diet. In case of a permanent deficiency of essential micronutrients during the first years of life, the abilities of the microbiome with respect to e.g. immune response and fat metabolism will not develop completely or not at all. Examinations of malnourished children in Bangladesh show that a richer diet later in life cannot compensate for the deficiencies in the microbiome which had been acquired in early childhood.

On the other hand, comparisons of the intestinal flora of people living in the Western civilisation and of native Americans living in isolation suggest that the consumption of finished products which are poor in micronutrients and of antibiotics as well as excessive personal hygiene contribute to the permanent impairment of the original health-promoting balance of the microbiome.

Read more:
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A.V. Kane, D. Ding and H. Ward.  Childhood malnutrition and the intestinal microbiome.
Pediatr Res. 2015 Jan;77(1-2):256-62. doi: 10.1038/pr.2014.179. Epub 2014 Oct 30. Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4476274/

Subramanian Persistent gut microbiota immaturity in malnourished Bangladeshi children. Nature, 510, 417–421 (19 June 2014) doi:10.1038/nature13421
Link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v510/n7505/full/nature13421.html#close

Deng, Bacteria bonanza found in remote Amazon village Genes for antibiotic resistance among those found in most-diverse human microbiome. Nature doi:10.1038 / nature.2015.17348. Link:
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