Nature Microbiology released an article in its July 2019 edition that identifies a compound produced by gut bacteria that predisposes infants to allergies and asthma later in life. Researchers at UC San Francisco identified a lipid that reduced the number and activity of immune cells that suppress allergic inflammation. To test its effects, they injected the compound into the gut of mice and found that it altered immune cell function at a molecular level. They then searched for concentration of the lipid in babies’ stool samples and found that higher concentrations predicted which infants went on to develop allergies by age two or asthma by age four.
For an article discussing the research, click here.
To view the article’s abstract, click here.