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Breastfeeding, infant gut microbiota, and early childhood overweight (637.4)
Author(s) -
Azad Meghan,
Konya Theodore,
Guttman David,
Field Catherine,
Sears Malcolm,
Becker Allan,
Scott James,
Kozyrskyj Anita
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.637.4
Subject(s) - breastfeeding , overweight , medicine , gut flora , childhood obesity , breast feeding , obesity , pediatrics , demography , immunology , sociology
RATIONALE: Breastfeeding may be protective against obesity, but existing evidence is inconsistent. The gut microbiota, which itself is shaped by breastfeeding and other early‐life exposures, may also contribute to the development of obesity. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether breastfeeding is protective against early childhood overweight, and to explore related associations with the gut microbiota. METHODS: The study involved 346 full term infants from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) national birth cohort. Mothers reported breastfeeding by standardized questionnaire, and child overweight was defined by weight‐for‐length z‐score (WFLz) according to World Health Organization standards. In a subset of 158 infants, the gut microbiota was characterized by Illumina 16S rRNA sequencing of fecal samples collected at 3 months. RESULTS: Breastfeeding rates (any breastfeeding) were 81%, 73%, and 46% at 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively. By 12 months, 16% of children were at risk for overweight (> 85th percentile WFLz). After adjusting for birth mode and maternal overweight, breastfeeding >6 months was associated with a significantly lower risk of child overweight (OR 0.35, 95%CI 0.18‐0.68). Gut microbiota composition and diversity were strongly influenced by breastfeeding (p<0.01 by permutational multivariate ANOVA), and were also associated with child overweight: breastfeeding promoted lower diversity and decreased abundance of Clostridiales (both p<0.01), characteristics which subsequently predicted a reduced risk of overweight (both p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that breastfeeding beyond 6 months protects against early childhood overweight, possibly by modifying the gut microbiota. These findings are relevant to infant nutrition‐based obesity prevention strategies. Future research will incorporate extended microbiota analyses, detailed nutrition assessments, and longitudinal measures of obesity throughout childhood. Grant Funding Source : Supported by the Candian Institutes of Health Research and AllerGen NCE.