Early life gut microbiota: Consequences for health and opportunities for prevention

Abstract

The gut microbiota influences many aspects of the host, including immune system maturation, nutrient absorption and metabolism, and protection from pathogens. Increasing evidences from cohort and animal studies indicate that changes in the gut microbiota early in life increases the risk of developing specific diseases early and later in life. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to identify specific disease prevention or therapeutic solutions targeting the gut microbiota, especially during infancy, which is the window of the human gut microbiota establishment process. In this review, we provide an overview of current knowledge concerning the relationship between disturbances in the gut microbiota early in life and health consequences later in life (e.g., necrotizing enterocolitis, celiac disease, asthma, allergies, autism spectrum disorders, overweight/obesity, diabetes and growth retardation), with a focus on changes in the gut microbiota prior to disease onset. In addition, we summarize and discuss potential microbiota-based interventions early in life (e.g., diet adjustments, probiotics, prebiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation, environmental changes) to promote health or prevent the development of specific diseases. This knowledge should aid the understanding of early life microbiology and inform the development of prediction and prevention measures for short- and long-term health disorders based on the gut microbiota.

Keywords:

• disturbance
• early in life
• gut microbiota
• health disorders
• prevention strategies

Author contributions

Shumin Wang: Investigation, Data curation, Writing-Original draft preparation. Jingjing Cui: Visualization, Investigation. Shilong Jiang: Supervision, Conceptualization. Chengdong Zheng: Supervision, Conceptualization. Jianxin Zhao: Supervision, Project administration. Heng Zhang: Writing-Reviewing and Editing, Supervision. Qixiao Zhai: Writing- Reviewing and Editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 32122067]; the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [BK20200084]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 31871773], and Collaborative innovation center of food safety and quality control in Jiangsu Province.