The gut microbiome and childhood growth: implications for microbiota-directed interventions

Abstract

Healthy childhood growth depends on complex interactions between nutrition, metabolism, immune function and the intestinal environment during the first 1 000 days of life. Increasing evidence indicates that the gut microbiome is an active contributor to these processes, providing a biological link between early-life nutrition and growth. While undernutrition has traditionally been attributed to inadequate dietary intake and recurrent infections, disruption of normal gut microbiome development is now recognised as an important factor contributing to growth faltering. Dysbiosis may impair nutrient utilisation, compromise intestinal barrier function, alter immune and endocrine signalling, and contribute to environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), thereby limiting the effectiveness of conventional nutritional rehabilitation.