How the gut microbes you're born with affect your lifelong health

Your lifelong health may have been decided the day you were born, says microbiome researcher Henna-Maria Uusitupa. In this fascinating talk, she shows how the gut microbes you acquire during birth and as an infant impacts your health into adulthood -- and discusses new microbiome research that could help tackle problems like obesity and diabetes.

Now, I know it might be easy to think

that microbes are bad,

especially for infants,

but research has in fact
proven the opposite.

And the truth might be
a little bit more complex,

but it's actually way more interesting.

It seems that we need microbes

to be programmed for good health,

but not just any microbes,

we need the right combination.

We succeed best
with the little microbial bodies

we have adapted to coexist with
during evolution.

And I guess it won't surprise you

to learn that we start acquiring
that right combination right at birth.

Well, at least some of us do.

Babies born by C-section
and babies born vaginally

aren't the same

when it comes to microbial start to life,

and after birth there are
countless different early life events

and circumstances

that further modulate the way
the gut microbiota is developing,

such as the medications that might be
prescribed for the infant or the mother,

number of pets and siblings in the family,

as well as level of hygiene at home,

and, in this case, it's actually better

if it's not that perfectly
clean all the time.

And also nutrition,
both mothers and infants.

All of these events
and circumstances play a huge role

in the gut microbial development

and that has a huge impact
on the lifelong health of that baby.

And I'm not talking about
small health implications here.

I'm talking about the big stuff.

Microbes we acquire or do not acquire

affect our likelihood of developing
diseases like obesity, diabetes

and even some cancers.

Since many of these
early life events I just listed

are such that we cannot affect them,

they are inevitable,

for example C-sections
have been invented to save lives,

and they do that daily,

and most medications
are prescribed for a valid reason,

especially for infants, and so on.

That is why we have to learn

how to protect the health of these babies

after the occurrence
of such early life events

that might disrupt their gut
microbiota development.

I work as a researcher

and as a technical lead
of an infant health platform,

and the question I'm trying
to find a solution to every day at work,

and the same question
I'm aiming to answer in this talk,

is how can we make sure

that all babies get the same shot
at lifelong health,

no matter how they're born
or what early life events they encounter.

Seems like a noble cause, right?

Great.

So let's figure this out.

To begin, remember how I said that we need
the right combination of microbes?

Well, to get that combination right,

we need to receive those microbes
that inhabit our bodies

in a certain order.

You can think of it
like a colonization march.

The very early microbes
that inhabit our bodies first

change the environment in the infant's gut

so that the next microbes
are able to move in,

kind of like the first invaders

come in first and set up
the infrastructure

for the other settlers to build upon.

Now, if babies are born via C-section,

that early phase of colonization
is greatly altered,

because instead of vaginal,
fecal and skin bacteria of the mother,

mainly only skin bacteria
enter the infant gut.

And that sets that colonization march
to a totally different tone,

and simply because that's different
to what we've adapted to during evolution,

that might cause some health disadvantages
for C-section-born babies later on.

We can take weight development
as an example here.

It has been already shown
in several studies

that gut microbiota composition

is associated to weight

as well as the likelihood
of developing diseases

like diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.

But now there are some indications

that you could already at infancy

see from a fecal sample of a baby

some microbes missing
from those individuals

who will later on develop
to be obese or overweight.

It has also been shown
that those same microbes

might be missing from babies
who are born by C-section

or who are predisposed to heavy loads
of antibiotics in early life.

And to kind of close this loop,

it has also been shown in some research

that babies born by C-section

or are prescribed with many,
many antibiotics early in life

are more likely to be obese
or overweight, even by 50 percent,

which is a lot.

Now, I know you might
be thinking at this point

that, oh no, I just had a C-section
or I was born via C-section

or my child had the antibiotics.

But I want you to not worry.

If these microbes are missing

or are lost for any reason,

they can be acquired later,

but the baby just needs
a little help with that.

One thing that has already for some time
been known to help is breastfeeding.

Breast milk is kind of miraculous:

in addition to containing
nutrients for the baby,

it seems to contain food
for the good microbes as well.

That's great for a breastfed baby,

but we all know that all babies
are not breastfed.

So what could we do to ensure that also
those babies who are not breastfed

could restore their microbiota development

after encountering
those disruptive early life events

that might disrupt
their gut microbiota development?

And now we get to the actual
solution part of this talk.

The research in this field
has been taking giant steps lately.

First, it was understood
that if there are some microbes missing,

they can be ingested.

We call the good microbes,
when they are ingested, probiotics,

and probiotics have been tested

in several clinical trials
during the years,

also in infants, with great effects,

such as reducing their risk
of eczema later in life.

Now, a second revolution was realized

when the eyes of researchers
were turned to breast milk.

That was logical, as, like I mentioned,

it was already known that breastfeeding
is able to support the healthy development

of gut microbiota.

There were these particles in breast milk

that were found already in the 1930s

called human milk oligosaccharides,

but their function remained a mystery

for decades and decades
after their initial discovery.

They were really puzzling for researchers,

as they are really abundant in human milk.

They are actually
the third-largest group of solids,

but they are not digestible
by humans, not even infants.

So why would mothers synthesize
something to breast milk,

use their resources to put something there

that is not utilizable by the infant?

Usually nature does not work that way.

Right?

So it was quite a revelation
when it was finally understood

what's the role of these particles,

and that it is to selectively feed
the microbes that are best for infants,

and that way to affect the infant health.

There are over a hundred
of different HMO structures,

and nowadays we are able to synthesize
some of them also in the lab,

and that enables us to package them up

with probiotics for children and infants

who are not able to receive them
from breast milk

to restore their microbiota

after encountering
disruptive early life events.

And that is the solution.

As a researcher, I must say at this point

that research in this field
is still ongoing

and a lot of work remains to be done.

That's a favorite sentence
of us scientists.

But we are taking steps
towards understanding better and better

which are the key missing microbes
in various situations

and what HMOs we should package
with which probiotics

to help restore the microbiota of that
particular baby in that particular case.

What I wish you to remember from this talk

is that, yes, vaginally born
breastfed baby has the microbiota

we have evolved to adapt to,

but in cases where that is not possible,

there are means to reduce
the negative health consequences.

Lastly, I wish you to imagine
a world for a while,

a world where there would be
such a health care system

that when you take your baby
to a health care check,

they would routinely monitor the gut
microbiota development of that baby,

and if any disruptions would be noted,

a tailor-made product
to restore the microbiota

would be prescribed.

I mean, how wonderful would that be,

if the onset of any chronic diseases
would be extremely rare

because of this preemptive
health care system?

Can you imagine such a world?

Do you believe that that kind
of future would be possible?

I do.

I believe in that future
and I want to contribute

in the unfolding of that future,

a future in which each baby
has an equal starting point for life

to be programmed for lifelong health.

Thank you.

(Applause)