Giving a gut bacteria-derived molecule as a dietary supplement to children might protect them against adult-onset asthma, research suggests.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Impact of Antibiotics on Asthma Risk: Early exposure to antibiotics can disrupt the gut microbiota in children, increasing their long-term susceptibility to asthma, as evidenced by recent research from Monash University.
- Role of the Gut Molecule IPA: The study, led by professor Ben Marsland and published in Immunity, identified a gut bacteria-derived molecule called IPA, which is crucial for long-term protection against asthma. Antibiotics reduce the levels of IPA, thereby elevating the risk of asthma.
- Potential Preventive Treatment: Supplementing children’s diets with the IPA molecule could potentially prevent the development of asthma later in life. This finding opens up the possibility of using IPA as a dietary supplement to counteract the adverse effects of early antibiotic exposure on asthma risk.
Giving a gut bacteria-derived molecule as a dietary supplement to children might protect them against adult-onset asthma, research suggests.
Early exposure to antibiotics can trigger long-term susceptibility to asthma, according to new research from Monash University.
Importantly the research team isolated a molecule produced by gut bacteria that they say could, in the future, potentially be trialed as a simple treatment, in the form of a dietary supplement, for children at risk of asthma to prevent them from developing the disease.
Role of IPA in Long-Term Asthma Protection
The research, led by professor Ben Marsland, PhD, and published in Immunity, found a molecule, called IPA, that is crucial to long-term protection against asthma. The finding of the molecule produced by bacteria in a healthy gut provides an explanation as to why the recurrent use of antibiotics increases the risk of asthma, according to Marsland.
“We know that recurrent use of antibiotics early in life disrupts a person’s healthy gut microbiota and increases the risk of allergies and asthma. We have discovered that a consequence of antibiotic treatment is the depletion of bacteria that produce IPA, thus reducing a key molecule that has the potential to prevent asthma,” he says in a release.
The first years of life are important in developing a stable gut microbiota, according to Marsland. “It is shaped first by food intake—both milk and solid foods—as well as genetics and environmental exposures. Infants at high risk of allergies and asthma have been shown to have a disrupted and delayed maturation of the gut microbiome,” he says in a release. “The use of antibiotics in the first year of life can have the unintentional effect of reducing bacteria which promote health, and we now know from this research that antibiotics lead to reduced IPA, which we have found is critical early in life as our lung cells mature, making it a candidate for early life prevention of allergic airway inflammation. “
Research Findings in Mice
Working in mice predisposed to develop asthma, the research team found that, when given antibiotics in early life, the mice were more susceptible to house-dust mite-induced allergic airway inflammation and this lasted into adulthood. Asthma is commonly triggered by exposure to house dust mite.
This susceptibility was maintained long-term, even after the gut microbiome and IPA levels returned to normal, highlighting that this molecule’s function was particularly important early in life.
When these mice had their diet supplemented with the IPA molecule early in life, the researchers found that the mice were effectively cured of developing the house dust mite-induced allergic airway inflammation, or asthma, in adulthood.
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