Research has demonstrated that microorganisms in the human gastrointestinal tract form an intricate, living fabric of natural controls affecting body weight, energy, and nutrition.

Most recently, a Norwegian study published in the journal PLoS Computational Biology1 found that the types of bacteria present in an infant’s digestive system influences the child’s growth.2

Your child’s digestive tract is quickly populated with a variety of bacteria originating from mother's vaginal tract (if delivered via vaginal birth), breast milk (if breastfed), and other sources, such as infant formula.

Toxic exposures and certain drugs can also alter your child’s microflora. Examples include pesticides like glyphosate, and antibiotics—both of which can decimate populations of beneficial gut microbes.

Understanding how infants’ microbiota develops over time is important in order to devise strategies to change it for the better; thereby benefiting children’s long-term health. Similar research is being done to determine the impact of different microbiota on adult health and disease through the American Gut Project.

In this study, they found that the presence of Bacteroides in male babies at 30 days of age was significantly associated with reduced growth. In contrast, the presence of E. coli species between the age of four days and one month was linked with normal growth in both boys and girls. According to the authors:

Infant growth is just one of many aspects affected by the composition of bacteria in your body. Another recent study published in the journal Pediatrics3 found that parents who clean off their child’s pacifier by sucking on it may be inadvertently reducing their child's risk of developing allergies4,5. This appears to be a side effect of your oral bacteria affecting your child’s gut bacteria.

According to the authors:

Other studies have similarly shown that your child’s microbiota may influence his or her risk of developingallergiesas a result of leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut is a condition that occurs due to the development of gaps between the cells (enterocytes) that make up the membrane lining your intestinal wall. These tiny gaps allow substances such as undigested food, bacteria and metabolic wastes that should be confined to your digestive tract to escape into your bloodstream -- hence the term leaky gut syndrome.

Once the integrity of your intestinal lining is compromised, and there is a flow of toxic substances "leaking out" into your bloodstream, your body experiences significant increases in inflammation. Besides being associated with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, or celiac disease, leaky gut can also be a contributing factor to allergies.

Interestingly, the study also concluded that vaginal delivery and parental pacifier sucking were independently associated with a reduced likelihood of developing eczema. Prevalence of this skin condition was lowest—20 percent—among infants covered by both factors, and highest (54 percent) among those born via cesarean birth and whose parents did not clean their pacifiers by sucking on it.

Next we get into toxins... Here, you could fill an entire library with information, but some toxins are more prevalent and/or more dangerous than others. For example, preliminary research findings6,7 suggest that children exposed to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in utero are at increased risk for hyperactivity and lower IQ. PBDEs are fire-retardant chemicals that have been in use for decades in items like carpeting, upholstery, mattresses, baby strollers and electronics, just to name a few.

Animal tests have shown that the chemicals disrupt the endocrine system, and because their chemical structure resembles thyroid hormone, they may affect thyroid function. In children, thyroid hormone is important for proper growth and development, especially brain development.

The researchers measured PBDE levels in the blood of 309 pregnant women, and their children were later evaluated through intelligence and behavior tests once a year until the age of five. They discovered that PBDE exposure in the womb was associated with hyperactivity between the ages of two and five, and with lower IQ scores at age five. A tenfold increase in PBDE exposure during pregnancy was related to about a four-point IQ deficit in five-year-old children. Previous research8 has also linked PBDE exposure in utero to reductions in IQ, as well as deficits in fine motor function and attention. According to study author Dr. Aimin Chen, assistant professor in the department of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine:

I’ve previously discussed how the recommended daily allowance (RDA) ofvitamin D is grossly insufficient for most people, and that goes for young children and infants as well. Vitamin D insufficiency can lead to rickets (soft, weakened bones), and preemies are known to be at particularly high risk. At present, recommendations on how much vitamin D3 preemies should receive range from 400-1,000 IU’s depending on the medical organization you ask.

It was this lack of consensus that prompted the researchers to investigate the dosage necessary to correct vitamin D insufficiency in preemies. The study, which is said to be the largest study9 to date on preterm infants, was presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC on May 5.

Ninety-six preterm infants born between 28 and 34 weeks' gestation were included in the study. Their vitamin D status was determined via blood tests, and the infants were randomly selected to receive either 400 or 800 IU’s of vitamin D3. At 40 weeks, the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency was 43 percent lower in the 800 IU group than the 400 IU group. According to lead author Chandra Kumar Natarajan, DM:

Allergies of all kinds, but food allergies in particular, are on the rise. For example, between 1997 and 2002 the number of peanut allergies doubled, and the number of hospitalizations related to allergic reactions to food increased by a whopping 265 percent. One out of 17 children now has some form of food allergy. Children are also at highest risk of death from food allergy.

What’s causing this rapid incline in allergies, especially in our young?

Well, when you consider that a food allergic reaction occurs when your body responds to a food protein as aforeign invader (just like a virus or bacteria) which triggers an inflammatory response, the obvious answer is that our food now contains something, or things, that were never in it before. Numerous chemicals are today used in processed foods—any of which can cause a problem. But even more insidious are genetically engineered (GE) ingredients.

Shockingly, despite the complete lack of long-term safety studies, infant formulas can contain GE ingredients, without being labeled. Common GE crops include corn, soy and sugar—ingredients that are frequently used in infant formulas. Your child is perhaps never more vulnerable than in the first few months of life, when his or her fragile body is still rapidly developing. Pound for pound, infants experience greater exposure to chemicals than adults, and have immature and porous blood-brain barriers, which allow greater chemical exposures to reach their developing brains. As stated by biologist David Schubert:

To correct this travesty, GMOInside.org10 has launched a campaign urging infant formula makers to phase out all genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from their infant formulas. The companies targeted are:

As stated by GMOInside.org:

If you agree that babies should not be treated like lab rats, please take a moment to sign the petition right now.

There’s no doubt that children are at grave risk these days due to toxic exposures, improper nutrition, lack of beneficial microbes, combined with increasing amounts of genetically engineered foods, the full health ramifications of which are still not understood.

As a parent, being vigilant about avoiding toxins, while simultaneously improving your own nutrition, gut health and vitamin D status can go a long way toward protecting your child’s long-term health. Then, once your baby is born, breast feeding while eating an organic diet with plenty of fermented foods, and making sure your baby’s vitamin D levels are optimized, can give them a healthier start.

Sources and References

1 PLoS Comput Biol 9(5): e1003042

2 Medicinenet.com May 9, 2013

3 Pediatrics May 6, 2013 [Epub ahead of print]

4 MedPageToday May 6, 2013

5 New York Times May 6, 2013

6 WebMD May 6, 2013

7 Scientific American May 6, 2013

8 Environmental Health Perspectives 121:257–262 (2013)

9 Newhope360.com May 6, 2013

10 GMOInside.org