- Recent press releases
-
- Antioxidants may prevent cognitive impairment in diabetes
- Skin inflammation may increase your risk of type-2 diabetes
- Debate - Is the gut or the brain more important in regulating appetite and metabolism?
- Routine vitamin B12 screening may prevent irreversible nerve damage in type-2 diabetes
- Good nutrition could protect children from cognitive difficulties caused by early-life stress
- Women more resilient to extreme physical activity than previously reported
- Oestrogens in cows’ milk are unlikely to pose a threat to adult health
- Diabetic patients are more at risk of death from alcohol, accidents and suicide
- Too much vitamin A may increase risk of bone fractures
- Vitamin D supplements may promote weight loss in obese children
- Vitamin B supplements may protect kidney function in children with diabetes
- Bad habits in childhood may lead to an ‘unhealthy’ balance of gut bacteria and increase health risks in later life
- Lord Robert Winston cautions that advances in infertility therapies may be hindered by over-regulation
- New link identified between inflammation and depression in type-1 diabetes
- Walking a tightrope: universal thyroid testing could reduce pregnancy problems in some cases, but interfere with healthy pregnancies in others
- Brain stimulation may reduce food cravings as obesity treatment
- Larger waistlines are linked to higher risk of vitamin D deficiency
- Transgender brains are more like their desired gender from an early age
- Could intermittent fasting diets increase diabetes risk?
- Minimising exposure to common hormone-disrupting chemicals may reduce obesity rates
- Brain development disorders in children linked to common environmental toxin exposures
- Children born to mothers with low vitamin D levels may develop autism-like behaviours
- Over-the-counter antihistamines linked to impaired fertility in men
- Arthritis drug can lower sugar levels in diabetes
- Potential new target for reducing osteoporosis risk in men
- Successful male infertility treatment does not lower fertility of sons
- Warm temperatures can lead to misdiagnosis of diabetes in pregnancy
- Guidelines for management of recurrent pituitary tumours recommend new drug as first line treatment
- Taking paracetamol during pregnancy may reduce fertility of daughters
- Link found between morning sickness, smoking and healthy pregnancies
- High fat diet during childhood may increase PCOS risk later in life
- Early pregnancy test for cows improves welfare and food production
- International collaboration release revised guideline for improved management of Turner syndrome
- Treating PCOS with a combination of oral contraceptives and spironolactone does not increase the risk of diabetes or heart disease
- Vitamin D supplements could help pain management
- Breast cancer risk is more affected by total body fat than abdominal fat
- New nanotechnology application for difficult-to-treat cancers
- Just six months of frequent exercise improves men’s sperm quality
- Consuming more than two soft drinks a day can double risk of diabetes
- Age-related scarring in ovaries may explain reproductive decline
- Happy cows make more nutritious milk
- Third of pregnant women iron deficient; risk thyroid-related pregnancy complications
- New recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of Adrenal Incidentalomas published in the European Journal of Endocrinology
- Sitting down for long periods when pregnant linked to weight gain and depression
- New drug provides safer alternative to conventional IVF treatment
- Enzyme potential target for fight against obesity and diabetes
- Bursts of high-intensity exercise could help diabetes patients manage low blood sugar levels
- Soybean foods may protect menopausal women against osteoporosis
- Vitamin D pill a day may improve exercise performance and lower risk of heart disease
- Diabetes associated with increased risk of serious bacterial blood infection
- Breast cancer risk higher in women with overactive thyroid
- Injection of appetite gene may offer a more effective alternative to dieting
- Hyperthyroidism could be great cost to countries in disability benefits
- Mother’s hormone levels predict child’s ability to do maths
- Mentally tiring work may increase diabetes risk in women
- Obesity risk may be increased by exposure to common environmental chemicals
- Breastfeeding reduces long-term risk of heart disease in mothers
- Environmental toxins can impair sexual development and fertility of future generations
- Setting fair regulations for top female athletes that have naturally higher testosterone levels
- Sleep problems in teenagers reversed in just one week by limiting screen use
- Men ignore serious health risks of steroid abuse in pursuit of the body beautiful
- Protective effect of breastfeeding on childhood obesity risk linked to leptin gene modification
- Smoking during pregnancy may damage daughters’ future fertility
- Probiotic supplements may enhance weight loss in obese children
- Limiting mealtimes may increase your motivation for exercise
- Age is not a barrier to the benefits of weight-loss surgery
- New insights into cause and treatments for aggressive form of breast cancer
- Stress with disrupted body clock increases risk of metabolic disease
- Impaired liver function during pregnancy may increase risk of childhood obesity
- Vitamin B12 deficiency linked to obesity during pregnancy
- Common anti-inflammatory may increase risk of diabetes
- Mindfulness helps obese children lose weight
- Larger thighs associated with lower risk of heart disease in obesity
- COVID-19 severity is increased in patients with mild obesity
- Thyroid inflammation linked to anxiety disorders
- Evaluating hormone-related targets & risks associated with COVID-19
- Ghrelin may be an effective treatment for age-related muscle loss
- Probiotics may help manage childhood obesity
- Skin lightening products linked to altered steroid hormone levels
- Vitamin D levels in the blood can predict future health risks & death
- COVID-19 infection may impair fertility in men
- Obesity is linked to heavy periods and impaired womb repair
- New app helps parents identify treatable childhood growth disorders earlier
- Web of Science announces 2022 Journal Impact Factors
- More news
Bad habits in childhood may lead to an ‘unhealthy’ balance of gut bacteria and increase health risks in later life
Sept 2018
Preliminary data suggests that a child’s sleeping, eating and fitness habits can influence the balance of bacteria found in their gut as teenagers, according to research presented today at the 57th Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Meeting. These findings indicate that maintaining healthy lifestyle habits during childhood may promote a healthy balance of gut bacteria later in life, which in turn may contribute to lowering the risks of developing serious long-term conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The gut is home to a highly complex microbial community consisting of trillions of diverse tiny microorganisms, collectively called the microbiota. In a healthy state, these microorganisms work in harmony with the body to help digest food, generate and use energy and promote normal organ and immune function. However, changes in the balance of the gut microbiota have been linked to an increased risk of insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes, high cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease. Emerging research also suggests a link to obesity, with differences in microbiota diversity and composition noted between lean and obese people. Diet has been shown to influence gut microbiota diversity in adults but little is known about the impact of other lifestyle factors, as well as diet, on the microbiota during childhood.
In this study by Dr Melanie Henderson and colleagues at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal, lifestyle factors of 22 healthy children, with at least one obese parent, were monitored over 8 years. When the children reached 15-17 years, the composition and diversity of their gut microbiota was measured from stool samples. The study findings suggested that certain lifestyle factors during childhood may influence the composition and diversity of gut microbiota in late adolescence. Teenagers, who had higher fitness levels, ate less fat and more carbohydrate, and had adequate sleep during their childhood, had a healthier and more diverse composition of gut microbiota.
These preliminary findings reveal that not just diet, but other lifestyle factors including low fitness levels and poor sleep behavior are likely involved in the development of an ‘unhealthier’ gut microbiome, which may increase the risk of children developing more serious conditions in later life,” commented Dr Henderson.
Whilst the findings are preliminary, with only a small number of children studied, they suggest that mechanisms related to lifestyle habits may affect the growth of gut microbiota, which Dr Henderson intends to examine in the next phase of her study.
Dr Henderson states, “The results of this study certainly suggest that lifestyle changes during childhood may help to favour a healthy intestinal microbiota, which may in turn lower the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases such as diabetes, however further research is needed to confirm these findings in a larger number of children.”
----ENDS----
Notes for Editors
The study “More than a gut feeling: preliminary evidence supporting a role for lifestyle habits in shaping the intestinal microbiota in childhood and adolescence” (abstract P1-P108), was presented at the 57th Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Meeting in Athens, Greece.
The 57th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE 2018 Meeting) was held 27-29 September 2018 in Athens, Greece. The ESPE annual meeting is recognised worldwide as being of high scientific and educational quality. www.eurospe.org
Recent Press Releases
Web of Science announces 2022 Journal Impact Factors
Mother’s hormone levels predict child’s ability to do maths
Hyperthyroidism could be great cost to countries in disability benefits
Injection of appetite gene may offer a more effective alternative to dieting
Soybean foods may protect menopausal women against osteoporosis