2023-09-02 09:11:30
The gut microbiota and the immune system have been linked since early childhood. Canadian researchers followed more than 1,000 children from birth to 5 years old to identify a potential link between the imbalance of intestinal bacteria and the onset of allergies from an early age.
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The microbiota has not finished talking about it. In recent years, research has highlighted the link between the bacterial composition of the intestinal microbiota and various health problems such as depression, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases and cardiometabolic diseases.
Researchers are now identifying the origin of certain major childhood allergies in the intestine. The new study published in Nature Communications suggests that eczema, asthma, food allergies and hay fever share a common feature: an imbalance of gut bacteria during infancy. Yet these four types of allergies have distinct symptoms. ” These are technically different diagnoses, each with their own list of symptoms, so most researchers tend to study them separately., explain Charisse Petersen, co-author of the study. But when you look at what’s wrong at the cellular level, you find they have a lot in common. »
A bacterial “signature” in allergic children
For the study, researchers from the University of British Columbia and the BC Children’s Hospital (Canada) followed more than 1,000 children from birth to age five. About half of them had no evidence of a history of allergies, while the other half were diagnosed with one or more allergies during a medical visit when they were five years old. In parallel, stools from infants collected during study visits at 3 months and 1 year of age were analyzed.
The samples showed a specific bacterial ‘signature’ in children who had developed one of the four allergies by the age of five. It is a sign of an imbalanced intestinal microbiota, which must have led to deterioration of the intestinal mucosa and a high inflammatory response in the intestine.
Most of the links between the microbiota and the different diseases seem to be mediated by immunity. However, in infants, the maturation of the immune system and the intestinal microbiota occur in parallel. ” Although this maturation process usually coincides with the development of a healthy immune tolerance, allergic sensitization may appear in some children during the same period that the microbiota is building up. “, write the authors.
« Developing therapies aimed at altering these interactions during infancy could therefore prevent the development of all kinds of allergic diseases during childhood, and which often last a lifetime. said Professor Stuart Turvey.
Allergic diseases affect millions of people around the world, including one in three children in Canada. It is therefore important to understand the reasons for their appearance, as well as the means of preventing them.
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