Study: Manipulating Gut Bacteria May Save Children From Malnutrition

A new study suggests that manipulating the bacteria living in the gut could be a new way to address the growing number of children suffering chronic malnutrition. Researchers say that having the right bacteria in the gut may help children get the most out of a poor meal.

Fox News reported that the researchers took intestinal bacteria from healthy and malnourished children in Malawi where malnutrition is rampant. The gut microbes where implanted into mice that were bred to be germ-free.

The mice were all given with the same diet, which is an approximation of a typical diet that a malnourished Malawian child consumes. The researchers found out that the animals had an improved growth with the presence of healthy microbes.

"Childhood undernutrition is a global, vexing, challenging, tragic health problem," Washington University School of Medicine's Jeffrey Gordon, who led the series of experiments published in the journals Science and Cell, told The Washington Post. He said that despite the fact that the mortality rates have dropped, the problem continues.

"There's something we're not repairing, something we're missing," Gordon added. He cited that they see stunted growth with children who were treated from malnutrition.

"Then we had an experiment we could call the 'battle of the microbiota,'" Gordon said, referring to the recent study. "We wondered, could the good overcome the effects of the bad?"

"If we could hammer home a key point, microbiota count," he stated. "Building healthy gut microbiota we think is important for health in the course of one's life."

According to Dr. Ilseung Cho, a gastroenterologist and a gut bacteria specialist at New York University School of Medicine who is not associated to the study, a healthy microbiome will allow individuals to access calories "you might not have been able to use before." He added that the findings of Gordon's team suggest that there may be "very precise bacteria or very precise nutrient interventions that can unlock the microbiome and help it combat malnutrition."