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Malnutrition: Starving Children Lack Crucial Gut Bacteria Malnutrition: Starving Children Lack Crucial Gut Bacteria
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When children are starving, the bacteria that live in their intestines may determine whether they can be saved, scientists working in Bangladesh are reporting. And they say it may become imperative to find a way to give children bacteria as well as food.When children are starving, the bacteria that live in their intestines may determine whether they can be saved, scientists working in Bangladesh are reporting. And they say it may become imperative to find a way to give children bacteria as well as food.
The study, done by researchers from Washington University’s medical school and the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, was published by Nature last week. The study, done by researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, was published by Nature last week.
Trillions of bacteria in the human gut help digest food and produce vitamins, and they amount to “a microbial organ within an organ,” said Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, an author of the paper. It takes up to about age 3 for a child to get all the species that seem to be needed, he said.Trillions of bacteria in the human gut help digest food and produce vitamins, and they amount to “a microbial organ within an organ,” said Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, an author of the paper. It takes up to about age 3 for a child to get all the species that seem to be needed, he said.
But stool samples showed that severely malnourished children often lack the needed species and do not acquire them even when they are fed nutrition-dense therapeutic foods like the peanut-based Plumpy’Nut or lentil-based porridges for weeks. As a result, they may remain stunted and mentally handicapped although they are getting enough calories to live.But stool samples showed that severely malnourished children often lack the needed species and do not acquire them even when they are fed nutrition-dense therapeutic foods like the peanut-based Plumpy’Nut or lentil-based porridges for weeks. As a result, they may remain stunted and mentally handicapped although they are getting enough calories to live.
Dr. Gordon said researchers were dosing sterile mice with different human gut microbes, hoping to discover which functions each performs. The goal may be to produce a sort of bacterial soup that children could be fed. Fecal transplants, sometimes used to cure severe gut infections in adults, are now unthinkable for fragile Bangladeshi infants, he said, because they would be probably also contain dangerous pathogens. Dr. Gordon said researchers were dosing sterile mice with different human gut microbes, hoping to discover which functions each performs. The goal may be to produce a sort of bacterial soup for children. Fecal transplants, sometimes used to cure severe gut infections in adults, are now unthinkable for Bangladeshi infants, he said, because they would probably also contain dangerous pathogens.