Pregnancy & early life

News Watch

The UN recently warned that antibiotic resistance will be the leading cause of death in the world by 2050. As the number of bacteria resistant to antibiotics continues to grow, infections will no longer be effectively treated. Some estimates suggest that 200,000 newborns die worldwide every year of infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria. In fact, the number of bacteria…

Cristina Sáez
Cristina Saez is a freelance science journalist. She works for several media, for instance the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, where she coordinates the science section, Big Vang; as well as research centres and scientific societies. She has been awarded for her journalistic work, among others, with the Boehringer Ingelheim Award in Medical Journalism 2015. Follow Cristina on Twitter @saez_cristina

The UN recently warned that antibiotic resistance will be the leading cause of death in the world by 2050. As the number of bacteria resistant to antibiotics continues to grow, infections will no longer be effectively treated. Some estimates suggest that 200,000 newborns die worldwide every year of infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria. In fact, the number of bacteria…

Cristina Sáez
Cristina Saez is a freelance science journalist. She works for several media, for instance the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, where she coordinates the science section, Big Vang; as well as research centres and scientific societies. She has been awarded for her journalistic work, among others, with the Boehringer Ingelheim Award in Medical Journalism 2015. Follow Cristina on Twitter @saez_cristina

In Canada, 3,500 kids and their families are part of the CHILD Cohort Study, which is a large research project that is figuring out how the human microbiome influences allergies, asthma, obesity, and our everyday health and wellbeing, especially during childhood. Find out in the next video, produced by AllerGen NCE Inc., how the gut microbiota can be altered by many…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

In Canada, 3,500 kids and their families are part of the CHILD Cohort Study, which is a large research project that is figuring out how the human microbiome influences allergies, asthma, obesity, and our everyday health and wellbeing, especially during childhood. Find out in the next video, produced by AllerGen NCE Inc., how the gut microbiota can be altered by many…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

Think about this: from the moment you are conceived until you are 1000 days old, your growth is exponential, faster than in any other period of life. For the first 9 months, you go from two cells to a newborn measuring 50cm in length and 3 kg weight. Then, between birth and 3 years of age, your body size doubles…

Cristina Sáez
Cristina Saez is a freelance science journalist. She works for several media, for instance the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, where she coordinates the science section, Big Vang; as well as research centres and scientific societies. She has been awarded for her journalistic work, among others, with the Boehringer Ingelheim Award in Medical Journalism 2015. Follow Cristina on Twitter @saez_cristina

Think about this: from the moment you are conceived until you are 1000 days old, your growth is exponential, faster than in any other period of life. For the first 9 months, you go from two cells to a newborn measuring 50cm in length and 3 kg weight. Then, between birth and 3 years of age, your body size doubles…

Cristina Sáez
Cristina Saez is a freelance science journalist. She works for several media, for instance the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, where she coordinates the science section, Big Vang; as well as research centres and scientific societies. She has been awarded for her journalistic work, among others, with the Boehringer Ingelheim Award in Medical Journalism 2015. Follow Cristina on Twitter @saez_cristina

Ask your grandparents. It is likely that when they were children, they probably had never heard about anyone being allergic to milk or to peanuts. And having asthma was almost incidental. And what about now? One can bet for sure you know people with asthma or atopic dermatitis. Allergic diseases are more and more on the rise and indeed they…

Cristina Sáez
Cristina Saez is a freelance science journalist. She works for several media, for instance the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, where she coordinates the science section, Big Vang; as well as research centres and scientific societies. She has been awarded for her journalistic work, among others, with the Boehringer Ingelheim Award in Medical Journalism 2015. Follow Cristina on Twitter @saez_cristina

Ask your grandparents. It is likely that when they were children, they probably had never heard about anyone being allergic to milk or to peanuts. And having asthma was almost incidental. And what about now? One can bet for sure you know people with asthma or atopic dermatitis. Allergic diseases are more and more on the rise and indeed they…

Cristina Sáez
Cristina Saez is a freelance science journalist. She works for several media, for instance the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, where she coordinates the science section, Big Vang; as well as research centres and scientific societies. She has been awarded for her journalistic work, among others, with the Boehringer Ingelheim Award in Medical Journalism 2015. Follow Cristina on Twitter @saez_cristina

An increasing number of studies over at least the past decade have shown, without a doubt, that our gut microbiota influences health and disease. More recently, researchers have started to focus on early life, analyzing the role that gut microbiota plays in the development of metabolic and autoimmune disorders later in life. One recent study in this regard showed infant…

Cristina Sáez
Cristina Saez is a freelance science journalist. She works for several media, for instance the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, where she coordinates the science section, Big Vang; as well as research centres and scientific societies. She has been awarded for her journalistic work, among others, with the Boehringer Ingelheim Award in Medical Journalism 2015. Follow Cristina on Twitter @saez_cristina

An increasing number of studies over at least the past decade have shown, without a doubt, that our gut microbiota influences health and disease. More recently, researchers have started to focus on early life, analyzing the role that gut microbiota plays in the development of metabolic and autoimmune disorders later in life. One recent study in this regard showed infant…

Cristina Sáez
Cristina Saez is a freelance science journalist. She works for several media, for instance the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, where she coordinates the science section, Big Vang; as well as research centres and scientific societies. She has been awarded for her journalistic work, among others, with the Boehringer Ingelheim Award in Medical Journalism 2015. Follow Cristina on Twitter @saez_cristina

Research & Practice

Breast milk has been reported as a multifunctional fluid, which includes human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) that may influence the development of the gut microbiota and the training of a newborn baby's immune system. A recent pilot study led by Dr. Mireille van Poppel and colleagues from the University of Graz and BioTechMed-Graz in Austria has revealed that during pregnancy, HMOs…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

Breast milk has been reported as a multifunctional fluid, which includes human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) that may influence the development of the gut microbiota and the training of a newborn baby's immune system. A recent pilot study led by Dr. Mireille van Poppel and colleagues from the University of Graz and BioTechMed-Graz in Austria has revealed that during pregnancy, HMOs…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

Preterm infants exhibit higher rates of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which is a major cause of both mortality and neurodevelopmental morbidity. Although an altered gut microbiota composition and metabolome has been found in preterm infants, the few studies exploring the microbiome in NEC and preterm infants have reported inconsistent results. Within the mechanisms by which the development of NEC occurs, a…

Andreu Prados
Andreu Prados holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy & Human Nutrition and Dietetics. Science writer specialised in gut microbiota and probiotics, working also as lecturer and consultant in nutrition and healthcare. Follow Andreu on Twitter @andreuprados

Preterm infants exhibit higher rates of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which is a major cause of both mortality and neurodevelopmental morbidity. Although an altered gut microbiota composition and metabolome has been found in preterm infants, the few studies exploring the microbiome in NEC and preterm infants have reported inconsistent results. Within the mechanisms by which the development of NEC occurs, a…

Andreu Prados
Andreu Prados holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy & Human Nutrition and Dietetics. Science writer specialised in gut microbiota and probiotics, working also as lecturer and consultant in nutrition and healthcare. Follow Andreu on Twitter @andreuprados

Maternal physiology and metabolism during pregnancy adjust so the fetus may grow healthy. As part of these changes, the gut microbiota evolves towards a pro-inflammatory profile, which contributes to a healthy pregnancy. Even so, the extent to which gut microbiota alterations induced by pregnancy and lactation may change autoimmune mechanisms that are involved in disease has not yet been explored.…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

Maternal physiology and metabolism during pregnancy adjust so the fetus may grow healthy. As part of these changes, the gut microbiota evolves towards a pro-inflammatory profile, which contributes to a healthy pregnancy. Even so, the extent to which gut microbiota alterations induced by pregnancy and lactation may change autoimmune mechanisms that are involved in disease has not yet been explored.…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

Preterm infants are at a high risk of growth failure that may affect their long-term health outcomes. Different factors have been involved in the etiology of postnatal growth failure in preterm infants, but despite research efforts regarding clinical management, growth failure rates continue to increase. Although differences in gut microbiota composition have been found in preterm infants compared with full-term…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

Preterm infants are at a high risk of growth failure that may affect their long-term health outcomes. Different factors have been involved in the etiology of postnatal growth failure in preterm infants, but despite research efforts regarding clinical management, growth failure rates continue to increase. Although differences in gut microbiota composition have been found in preterm infants compared with full-term…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

Mental health-related conditions such as anxiety and depression have been found to be more frequent in adults with functional gastrointestinal disorders that include irritable bowel syndrome. Although these findings suggest a close relationship between mental illness and functional gastrointestinal symptoms, little is known about the extent to which these manifestations may share a common etiology, especially in early life, when…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team

Mental health-related conditions such as anxiety and depression have been found to be more frequent in adults with functional gastrointestinal disorders that include irritable bowel syndrome. Although these findings suggest a close relationship between mental illness and functional gastrointestinal symptoms, little is known about the extent to which these manifestations may share a common etiology, especially in early life, when…

GMFH Editing Team
GMFH Editing Team